Court summons DCI officers over spyware claims on suspects in BBC documentary

A Nairobi chief magistrate’s court has summoned two Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers to appear on October 1, 2025 over claims that spyware was secretly installed on devices belonging to four suspects behind the BBC documentary Blood Parliament.

Trial magistrate Eric Otieno Wambo issued the summons after the officers failed to show up in court on Monday.

Lawyer Ian Mutiso, acting for the suspects, urged the court to compel the officers to personally respond to the accusations.

“Your honour, we request summons for the two officers handling the matter so that they can address our application,” Mutiso said.

The magistrate adjourned the proceedings and directed that the matter be mentioned on October 1, 2025 when the officers are expected in court.

The court heard that surveillance software was planted on the suspects’ gadgets while they were held in police custody.

A forensic report prepared by the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab and filed in court confirmed that one of the devices a mobile phone belonging to Nicholas Wambugu was infected with the commercial spyware FlexiSPY.

According to the report, Wambugu’s phone was seized on May 2, 2025, and later returned on July 10, 2025.

Forensic analysis showed FlexiSPY had been installed on May 21, 2025, at 17:17 GMT, a period when the handset remained in police custody.

The court heard that FlexiSPY can record calls, intercept messages, track locations, take screenshots, activate microphones remotely, and even alter or delete data.

The software has been previously associated with government surveillance, the targeting of activists and journalists, and criminal syndicates.

Citizen Lab researchers further told the court that while FlexiSPY was confirmed, the possibility of additional spyware or tampering during police custody could not be ruled out.

The suspects Nicholas Wambugu, Brian Adagala, Mark Denver Karubiu, and Christopher Wamae were arrested in May 2025 after the release of Blood Parliament, which documented security forces opening fire on anti-tax protesters outside Parliament in June 2024, leaving several people dead and many others injured.

They were detained at Muthaiga Police Station.

Although the DCI arraigned the four under a miscellaneous application, no formal charges have been preferred against them by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

They are currently out on bail.