Judges of the Supreme Court. [Photo/judiciary.go.ke]
The Supreme Court of Kenya has ruled that death penalty is unconstitutional.
In a landmark ruling made on Thursday, Justice Njoki Ndug’u said Section 204 of the Penal Code "is out of sync and cannot stand as it is inconsistent with the constitution".
The code states that any person found guilty of murder, robbery with violence, treason, and other capital offenses shall be sentenced to death by hanging.
Death row convicts Francis Karioko Muruatetu and Wilson Thirimbu Mwangi, who have been in jail for the last 14 years since 2003, had filed the case at the apex court while seeking that the mandatory death penalty should be scrapped from the Kenyan law.
The duo was convicted alongside five other suspects, including the wife of former Lands Commissioner Wilson Gachanja, for the grisly murder of businessman Lawrence Githinji Magondu.