Kenyan Victims of Alleged State-Backed Torture Demand ICC Action
(Bloomberg) -- A group of people who say they were victims of state-sponsored abductions in Kenya asked the International Criminal Court to investigate President William Ruto’s administration for human rights violations.
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A statement signed by Bob Njagi, Aslam Longton, Jamil Longton, Dancan Kyalo and Monicah Mwende, who say they or their relatives were abducted and tortured, as well as five human interest groups, asked the ICC to look into the cases of forced disappearances and extra-judicial killings plaguing the country. They also urged the court to prosecute those responsible for crimes that have left scores of people missing since June.
“Kenya’s human rights violations are no longer a domestic issue; they are crimes against humanity,” the activists said in a statement published Sunday, calling for an end to what they described as a “reign of terror.”
The Kenya National Human Rights Commission estimates that at least 82 people have gone missing since last year’s protests over President Ruto’s plans to introduce unpopular taxes, with 29 still missing.
The Ruto administration has also come under fire after Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye was seized on Nov. 16 while visiting Nairobi and transported to a jail in Uganda. Kenya has also honored a request by Turkey to deport four asylum seekers, the latest foreign dissidents that the East African country has helped extradite.
“Every extra-judicial killing, every case of police brutality and every act of state violence must be met with swift legal action,” the group said in the statement. “We demand that the ICC take immediate action to investigate and persecutive those responsible for these heinous crimes.”
Kenya’s National Police Service has denied involvement into the alleged disappearances and deaths, while Ruto has promised to bring an end to the abductions.
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