The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has strongly condemned the incident in which a Nakuru-based lawyer was on Friday arrested by county askaris and allegedly tortured while in their custody.
LSK chairman Eric Mutua on Saturday said the act was an outright infringement of human rights and totally unacceptable in the country.
“Torture and intimidation of any citizen while in police custody is totally unconstitutional and a show of lawlessness and reign of impunity,” said Mutua, adding that LSK will investigate the incident to its end and ensure those involved are prosecuted.
Fred Nyagaka, an advocate of the high court representing a hawkers’s association in a case against the Nakuru County government, was on Friday morning accosted by police officers in plain clothes and county askaris before being held for several hours at the county headquarters courts jail, popularly known as ‘municipal cells.’
The haggard lawyer, who addressed the press minutes after his release, claimed he was tortured and intimidated before being released on a personal bond of Sh10,000.
The drama occurred just a day after the lawyer appeared before Lady Justice Maureen Odero representing the over 2,500 traders in a petition challenging their eviction from the Nakuru town centre.
Nyagaka said at the time of his arrest, he was in the company of the lawyer representing the county government in the hawkers' case, Wilfred Konosi, at Kijabe row in the town attempting to deliberate on the Thursday court ruling.
“I was with lawyer Wilfred Konosi when they roughed me up, smashed my spectacles and confiscated my mobile phone,” said Nyagaka.
On Thursday, the court had directed the Nakuru County government to hold discussions with the hawkers association to resolve the stalemate.
Mutua said LSK is not sitting tight and that they are already following the particulars of what unfolded before making a decision.
“Intimidation of lawyers while carrying out their professional duties and obligations is criminal. It curtails their independence and prevents them from upholding internationally recognised standards of fairness and justice,” noted the LSK president.
The condemnation was echoed by the LSK Rift Valley chapter chairman David Mongeri, who termed the incident unlawful and unacceptable in the modern society.
“LSK is contemplating moving to court to prosecute the perpetrators once the matter is unravelled,” said Mongeri.