NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya’s acting chief of police was sentenced to six months in prison on Friday after he repeatedly defied orders to testify about the whereabouts of three men allegedly abducted by police officers.
The judge at the High Court in Nairobi suspended the sentence for seven days to give Gilbert Masengeli, the acting inspector general of police, a final chance to appear in court before having to report to jail.
The case stems from a lawsuit by the country’s main bar association, the Law Society of Kenya, which is seeking a court order for the release of three men who it said were taken by the police in August and have not been heard from since.
The three were outspoken on social media platforms in support of mass anti-government protests in June and July. Human rights activists say dozens of people involved in the protests were abducted by state agents and held incommunicado. Most were subsequently released.
President William Ruto has promised to look into these accusations, although he has broadly defended the conduct of state security services during the protests.
Judge Lawrence Mugambi had asked Masengeli to appear in court seven times to provide the whereabouts of the three, but Masengeli never did.
“In the event that he does not submit himself to the Commissioner General (of prisons), the minister of interior must take all steps that are necessary and permissible in law to ensure that Gilbert Masengeli is committed to prison,” Mugambi said in his order.
Police spokeswoman Resila Onyango did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Masengeli’s lawyers, in a presentation dated Thursday, asked the judge to suspend his contempt verdict and said attempts to locate the three men were ongoing.
(Reporting by George Obulutsa, Humphrey Malalo and Aaron Ross; Editing by Alison Williams)
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