Nyakundi was arrested on Monday on allegations of extorting an unnamed person Sh1 million/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 22 – Controversial blogger Cyprian Nyakundi will be arraigned in court on Friday to face a charge of attempted extortion contrary to Section 300 (1) of the Penal Code, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) announced on Wednesday.
Nyakundi was arrested on Monday on allegations of extorting an unnamed person Sh1 million.
He was arrested alongside an individual DCI identified as Emanuel Nyamweya Ong’era.
The two are said to have demanded for Sh17.5 million promising to pull down libelous content published on online platforms they manage.
“Detectives based at Gigiri have today afternoon arrested two suspects namely Cyprian Andama Nyakundi and Emmanuel Nyamweya Ong’era after successful investigations touching on extortion, blackmail and false accusations,” DCI tweeted.
“The two had just received Ksh. 1 Million from one of their victims being a down payment of Ksh 17.5 million they had earlier demanded as a precondition for pulling down libellous posts appearing on a website allegedly owned by the suspects.”
Under Section 300 (1) (c) (iv), a person found guilty of extorting by threats, “is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years; and in any other case the offender is liable to imprisonment for three years.”
The law defines extortion as an action amounting to accusing or threatening, “any person of committing any felony or misdemeanour, or of offering or making any solicitation or threat to any person as an inducement to commit or permit the commission of any felony or misdemeanor.”
The law also criminalizes conveying the contents of such threats knowingly in writing.
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