Ex-soldiers sue State for torture over ‘82 coup bid

Ten former Kenya Air Force officers are demanding justice for torture allegedly unleashed on them by the Moi regime following the 1982 attempted coup.

The petitioners on Monday told the High Court that they were subjected to torture, inhumane and degrading treatment by their seniors and colleagues.

Their lawyer, Mr Mbugua Mureithi, told the court that the ex-officers were dismissed from service without benefits on the assumption that they all took part in the aborted coup. He said some of them were incapacitated as a result of the torture.

The petitioners are John Thairu, Obadiah Mwambomu, Peter Kariuki, Placide Mwakisachi, Gerald Gicohi, Humphrey Kalama, David Mwangi, James Gitau, Lawrence Warukira and Jacob Gichamba.

STRIPPED NAKED

Mr Thairu said he was stripped naked in public, forced to walk on knees on concrete floors and whipped before being bundled into a dark cell.

“The petitioners were held in pre-arraignment detention for periods between 61 and 143 days before being arraigned before the Court Martial or simply released without charge and dismissed from the service,” Mr Mureithi told the court.

However, the State defence questioned why the former soldiers had come to court 30 years later after the atrocities were committed. The petitioners responded that they did not have confidence in the courts.

They prayed that the court declare their arrest and inhumane treatment as a heinous contravention of their rights.

Mr Justice Isaac Lenaola will hear the case on December 6.