A report from the Kenya National Commission of Human Rights (KNCHR) released to the public by Wikileaks has documented how suspected Mungiki members were eliminated by police in the 2007/08 post election violence.
According to the report, most of the orders were issued by senior government officials through ‘shoot to kill’ orders, while others were abducted, tortured to reveal information and later killed.
KNCHR had compiled at least three hundred names of persons who have either been killed or disappeared.
“Additionally, there are at least two hundred other persons whose identity the KNCHR was unable to establish since they were merely booked in mortuaries as unknown. Many of these bodies were subsequently disposed by the respective mortuary authorities after they remained unclaimed by their relatives for long,” the report notes.
Among the victims of the killings include John Mungai Kamande who was found dead at city mortuary on november 5, 2007, three days after he was arrested by police officers along Moi Avenue, Nairobi. According to an eyewitness who was with the deceased on November 2, 2007 at 12.00 noon at the Ambassador Hotel bus stop within the City Centre, persons believed to be plain clothes policemen arrested Mungai and three other people. The witness informed the family members immediately and they began searching for Mungai in all police stations. On 4/11/07, the family members decided to try searching for Mungai in Mortuaries because they could not trace him in the police stations.
They started with City Mortuary where they were told to return the following day. Upon return, they found Mungai’s bullet-riddled body. The Mortuary attendants informed them that Mungai’s and two other bodies were brought on the night of 2/11/07 by police officers from Central Police station.
Another one, Jackson Mburu, a businessman operating a bar at Bondeni village in Mathare, was shot dead by police on 3/6/07 for unknown reasons. On the fateful day, Mburu and a friend Simon went to relax over a beer at a nearby bar known as Mairi. While they were on their third beer, a policeman commonly known as OTI came and asked Mburu to accompany him out, to which he obliged.
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They left chatting with the police officer. About 30 minutes later, Simon was informed that Mburu had been shot dead near the Moi Air Base gate about 200 meters away by the said officer. Simon notified Mburu’s wife and they went to the scene of the shooting. They found that he had been shot thrice in the chest, once on the forehead and once on the neck and the police were barring people from viewing the body. The body was taken to the City mortuary and no known action has been taken against the officer.
The accounts of the killings are according to witnesses who mentioned at least 20 officers well known to residents in the city, who are based in various police stations such as BuruBuru,
Makongeni, Shauri Moyo, Kamukunji, Kasarani, Pangani and Kayole Police stations.
You can read more about the killings here:-
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