NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 21 — Azimio la Umoja Coalition co-principal Martha Karua now claims courts have been weaponized against the opposition to stop anti-government protests.
In a statement on Friday, Karua stated that police made arrests on Azimio leaders to interfere with their political activities.
“When police arrest to sabotage legitimate political activities and turn up in court alleging conspiracy, then you know the courts are being weaponized to silence dissent,” she said.
Karua made the claim after Embakasi East MP Babu Owino was presented in court on subversion charges alongside six Azimio protest mobilizers.
The court was set to rule Friday whether Owino will be freed on bail.
Milimani Chief Magistrate Lukas Onyina is expected to make the ruling after adjourning Thursday when he ordered the prosecution to ensure he is taken to hospital following complaints of ill health.
He was arraigned in court together with Calvin Okoth Otieno alias ‘Gaucho’ who stirred an online backlash after slaughtering a goat in full glare of cameras and licked its raw blood while daring government officials he accused of threatening Azimio leader Raila Odinga.
Gaucho made the statement on Tuesday, a day before the planned resumption of anti-government protests called by Odinga.
The State challenged a bid by lawyers representing the accused persons to have them released on bail citing national security concerns.
Lawyers representing the seven accused persons contested the State’s objection decrying the arbitrary detention of accused persons outside the 24-hour period provided for in law.
The lawyers cited Article 49 of the Constitution (2010) which requires the State to produce arrested persons in court “as soon as reasonably possible, but not later than– (i) twenty-four hours after being arrested”.
