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AG to contest Sh55mn award to ex-soldiers

The AG has already filed Notice of Appeal at the Judicial Review and Constitutional and Human Rights Registry at the Milimani Law Courts against Justice Isaac Lenaola's verdict/FILE

The AG has already filed Notice of Appeal at the Judicial Review and Constitutional and Human Rights Registry at the Milimani Law Courts against Justice Isaac Lenaola’s verdict/FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 6 – Attorney General Githu Muigai will appeal against a High Court award of Sh5.5million each to 10 former Kenya Air Force servicemen for torture they suffered following the abortive 1982 coup.

The AG has already filed Notice of Appeal at the Judicial Review and Constitutional and Human Rights Registry at the Milimani Law Courts against Justice Isaac Lenaola’s verdict.

The 10 ex-servicemen were awarded the money as compensation by Justice Lenaola for being subjected to cruel torture and degrading treatment.

In a letter to the Registrar of the High Court, the Attorney General has also sought to be furnished with all documents from the court proceedings in the case to enable him prepare his appeal.

Muigai in his letter argued: “There was no credible evidence to support the award in favour of the ex-servicemen and that in any event the award was excessive in the circumstances.”

Justice Lenaola on Monday ordered the State to pay the ex-military officers for being subjected to cruel torture and degrading treatment.

The judge disregarded the argument by the State that the officers may have been involved in the mutiny.

Justice Lenaola held that torture is not permissible under any circumstance and held that holding them for eight months without preferring charges was unlawful and a clear violation of their rights.

The officers gave an account of how they were arrested, tortured and moved from one detention prison to another.

“The fact that the Attorney General or any witness on his behalf did not deny these allegations indicates that the allegations were true and this court has no reason to doubt the veracity of the testimony of the officers,” he said.

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Ex-officers David Gitau, Shaban Dosho, Johana Kiptarus, Hassan Mohamed, Daniel Koi, Khamisi Mwamgute, Peter Mungai, Jacob Mwaliko, Alfred Kahindhi and Graham Njau were serving as Kenya Air Force officers at the time of the attempted coup of August 1, 1982.

They told the court that they were all arrested by officers of the Kenya Army on the said date on suspicion of participating in the attempted coup.

They claimed that upon their arrest, they were stripped naked in public, made to crawl on their knees on concrete floors, whipped, kicked around, bludgeoned all over their bodies as they were being taunted that they were “educated rubbish.”

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