Seven years after their baby daughter was killed during a brutal midnight operation by police in Kenya at a time of post-election tension, Joseph Oloo Abanja and Lensa Achieng are still filled with emotions as the case against the alleged officers involved has once again been delayed.
„It is a scar that will never fade away,“ Ms Achieng, a hotel worker, tells the BBC about the death of six-month-old Samantha Pendo who died with a broken skull and internal bleeding.
After each postponement or small development, the couple are overwhelmed with calls. Each moment of expectation leads to disappointment in their quest for justice.
The family resides in the western city of Kisumu – an opposition stronghold where riots erupted in August 2017 due to dissatisfaction with the election results.
Samantha Pendo’s parents are eager for the case against the police officers to commence.
Their modest home was located along a road in the Nyalenda informal settlement where protests took place on August 11 where anti-riot police were deployed.
That night, the couple secured their wooden door and barricaded it with furniture. Around midnight, they heard their neighbors‘ doors being broken down and some occupants being assaulted.
It wasn’t long before police officers arrived at their door.
„They knocked and kicked it several times [but] I refused to open,“ Mr. Abanja tells the BBC, explaining that he begged them to spare his family of four.
However, the officers continued to batter the door until they found a small opening through which they threw a tear gas canister into the one-roomed house, forcing the family out.
Mr. Abanja was instructed to lie down outside the door, and the beating commenced.
„They were targeting my head, so I raised my hands, and they beat my hands until they could no longer hold on,“ he recalls.
His wife emerged from the house carrying Samantha, who was struggling to breathe due to the tear gas, and she was not spared from the brutality either.
„They kept beating me [with clubs] while I was holding my daughter,“ Ms. Achieng remembers.
She felt her daughter clutching her tightly „as if she was in pain.“
„I turned her over, and what was coming out of her mouth? It was foam.“
She screamed that they had killed her daughter, and at that moment, the beatings ceased, and Mr. Abanja was told to administer first aid.
The baby regained consciousness but was severely injured.
The couple states that the officers quickly departed, and neighbors assisted in rushing Samantha to the hospital. Unfortunately, she passed away after three days in intensive care.
Their pursuit of justice has been lengthy and exasperating, similar to that of many others affected by the post-election violence.
Twelve police officers are expected to face charges of murder, rape, and torture, but the hearing has yet to take place.
One of the victims‘ lawyers, Willys Otieno, believes the delay is due to a lack of political will to serve justice to the victims of election violence.
„The state is no longer interested in prosecuting the perpetrators, [and] it is now up to victims‘ counsels – those of us who work with non-governmental organizations and human rights groups to push for the charges to be filed and the accused individuals to stand trial,“ Mr. Otieno tells the BBC.
He accuses the current director of public prosecutions (DPP) of favoring the accused.
„It is not even the accused who have requested adjournment – it is the DPP who has sought to delay the plea hearing,“ the lawyer explains about two unsuccessful attempts to take a plea last October and November.
The third attempt was scheduled for two days ago but was postponed due to the transfer of the presiding judge and has been rescheduled for the end of the month.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) declined to comment but stated that „the case remains one of the most high-profile in recent history, with Baby Pendo’s death symbolizing the tragic consequences of police brutality during the 2017 post-election unrest.“
Those involved in the case find the delays concerning.
„It was the Office of the DPP that initiated this case and reached out to us several years ago. They requested us to join a victim support group established to ensure they would have witnesses for their case,“ Irungu Houghton, head of Amnesty International Kenya, tells the BBC.
After initial investigations, the DPP at the time, Nurdin Hajji, launched a public inquest into the death of baby Samantha. Der Richter fand die Polizei schuldig.
Danach hat der Staatsanwalt weitere Untersuchungen in anderen Fällen angeordnet, die aus dem Polizeieinsatz im August 2017 resultierten, und unabhängige verfassungsrechtliche Untersuchungsorgane, die Zivilgesellschaft und den UN-Hochkommissar für Menschenrechte hinzugezogen.
Die Untersuchung deckte Beweise auf, die laut dem DPP auf „den systematischen Einsatz von Gewalt, einschließlich Tötung, Folter, Vergewaltigung und anderen Formen sexueller Gewalt gegen Zivilisten hindeuten, die alle schwerwiegende Menschenrechtsverletzungen und Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit darstellen“.
Im Oktober 2022 beantragte der Staatsanwalt dann, die Verdächtigen zum ersten Mal in der Geschichte Kenias nach seinem Internationalen Strafgesetzbuch anzuklagen.
Zu den Anzuklagenden gehören Kommandanten, die aufgrund ihrer Verantwortung als Vorgesetzte haftbar gemacht werden – ein weiteres Novum für Kenia.
Im September 2023 trat ein neuer DPP, Renson M Ingonga, sein Amt an, aber seitdem hat sich in dem Fall wenig bewegt.
Es scheint „eine Unwilligkeit zu geben, diesen Fall zu verfolgen“, sagt Herr Houghton.
Ein Untersuchungsgericht im Jahr 2019 machte Polizeibeamte für den Tod von Samantha Pendo verantwortlich und ordnete weitere Untersuchungen an [Gladys Kigo / BBC]
Herr Otieno sagt, dass die Anwälte der Opfer erwägen könnten, Gerechtigkeit durch eine private Strafverfolgung zu suchen oder vor den Ostafrikanischen Gerichtshof oder den Internationalen Strafgerichtshof (ICC) zu gehen, wenn die Verzögerungen anhalten.
Der Gouverneur von Kisumu und Oppositionsführer Peter Anyango‘ Nyong’o hat den Obersten Richter nun aufgefordert, sich des Falls anzunehmen und „sofort herauszufinden, ob jemand oder Gruppen von Menschen diesen Fall sabotieren, um bestimmte Personen zu schützen“.
Ansonsten stimmt er zu, dass der ICC der richtige Weg sein könnte: „Wir könnten gezwungen sein, uns an den ICC zu wenden, wenn die lokalen Gerichte weiterhin die Fälle verzögern, denn Recht, das verzögert wird, ist Recht, das verweigert wird.“
Samanthas Eltern unterstützen diese Idee, denn ohne Gerechtigkeit können sie nicht heilen – jede Verschiebung öffnet ihre Wunden wieder.
„Es spielt keine Rolle, wie ich es machen werde, aber ich werde sicherstellen, dass ich Gerechtigkeit bekomme“, sagt Herr Abanja, der jetzt 40 Jahre alt ist und seinen Lebensunterhalt als Tuk-Tuk-Taxifahrer verdient.
„Denn sie haben mir etwas genommen, das mir sehr viel bedeutet hat – sie war alles für mich, dieses kleine Mädchen, das ich nach meiner Mutter benannt habe.“
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[Getty Images/BBC]
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