Kurzweil
JF-Expert Member
- May 25, 2011
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Nairobi — The government security for protesters who are planning to hold peaceful demonstrations on Monday in Nairobi over the killings of lawyer Willie Kimani his client Josephat Mwenda and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri.
Government Spokesman Eric Kiraithe urged the protesters to demonstrate within the confines of the law.
He urged them to be alert to any group that may want to cause crime and alert the police over such characters.
"We particularly encourage the organizers of such processions to cooperate with law enforcement on issues of timings, roads to be followed and ensuring that as an organiser you have adequate personnel to be able to quickly identify any intruder and to have such people prevented from breaking the law in any way," Kiraithe added.
He condemned the killings and vowed that the perpetrators will face the full force of the law.
"We express our solidarity with the outrage the Law Society of Kenya has shown, and we would want to assure them that the entire government is not in any way supportive of the alleged actions and those arrested will face the full force of the law. Every effort will be made to ensure that the matter is exhaustively and intensively investigated," Kiraithe added.
He said that the government does not and will not permit extra judicial killings arguing that the incident is a case of individual criminal actions.
"The current administration is very keen on the rule of law in every respect; all of us in the country must fit within the law," he stated.
Civil society organisations and various human rights actors including Kenya National Human Rights Commission will on Monday from 9am hold a procession which will start at freedom corner, proceed to the office of the Inspector General of Police where they will hold a press conference.
They will then proceed to the High Court as a sign of solidarity with the law fraternity and finish off at freedom corner.
Speaking to Capital FM News, Coalition for Constitution Implementation Kenya Convener Cidi Otieno says if the perpetrators are not punished, the human rights defenders will be at risk of being targeted by killer squads.
"We are urging as many people as possible to come out in large numbers, as we make our procession peacefully in a solidarity with our lawyers, "Otieno stated.
The Law Society of Kenya has confirmed that lawyers will down their tools beginning Monday to protest the killing of advocate Kimani.
"The Council of the Law Society of Kenya had a meeting yesterday and it was resolved that there would be a weeklong strike to protest the killing of our colleague Willie Kimani together with his client and their taxi driver," LSK President Isaac Okero said while addressing members of the media.
He also said that while the LSK welcomes the arrests made following orders by Inspector General Joseph Boinnet, the extra judicial killings shouldn't have occurred in the first place.
Earlier Saturday, Boinnet named officers in custody for the murder of lawyer Willie Kimani and two others.
Those being detained are Senior Sergeant Fredrick Leliman, Corporal Stephen Chebulet and Police Constable Silvia Wanjiku.
"Regardless of the arrests, which we welcome, this shouldn't have happened in the first place. What is causing alarm in our profession is that elements of the police consider being fair game for them to take out a member of the legal profession. This is totally unacceptable," he said.
Government Spokesman Eric Kiraithe urged the protesters to demonstrate within the confines of the law.
He urged them to be alert to any group that may want to cause crime and alert the police over such characters.
"We particularly encourage the organizers of such processions to cooperate with law enforcement on issues of timings, roads to be followed and ensuring that as an organiser you have adequate personnel to be able to quickly identify any intruder and to have such people prevented from breaking the law in any way," Kiraithe added.
He condemned the killings and vowed that the perpetrators will face the full force of the law.
"We express our solidarity with the outrage the Law Society of Kenya has shown, and we would want to assure them that the entire government is not in any way supportive of the alleged actions and those arrested will face the full force of the law. Every effort will be made to ensure that the matter is exhaustively and intensively investigated," Kiraithe added.
He said that the government does not and will not permit extra judicial killings arguing that the incident is a case of individual criminal actions.
"The current administration is very keen on the rule of law in every respect; all of us in the country must fit within the law," he stated.
Civil society organisations and various human rights actors including Kenya National Human Rights Commission will on Monday from 9am hold a procession which will start at freedom corner, proceed to the office of the Inspector General of Police where they will hold a press conference.
They will then proceed to the High Court as a sign of solidarity with the law fraternity and finish off at freedom corner.
Speaking to Capital FM News, Coalition for Constitution Implementation Kenya Convener Cidi Otieno says if the perpetrators are not punished, the human rights defenders will be at risk of being targeted by killer squads.
"We are urging as many people as possible to come out in large numbers, as we make our procession peacefully in a solidarity with our lawyers, "Otieno stated.
The Law Society of Kenya has confirmed that lawyers will down their tools beginning Monday to protest the killing of advocate Kimani.
"The Council of the Law Society of Kenya had a meeting yesterday and it was resolved that there would be a weeklong strike to protest the killing of our colleague Willie Kimani together with his client and their taxi driver," LSK President Isaac Okero said while addressing members of the media.
He also said that while the LSK welcomes the arrests made following orders by Inspector General Joseph Boinnet, the extra judicial killings shouldn't have occurred in the first place.
Earlier Saturday, Boinnet named officers in custody for the murder of lawyer Willie Kimani and two others.
Those being detained are Senior Sergeant Fredrick Leliman, Corporal Stephen Chebulet and Police Constable Silvia Wanjiku.
"Regardless of the arrests, which we welcome, this shouldn't have happened in the first place. What is causing alarm in our profession is that elements of the police consider being fair game for them to take out a member of the legal profession. This is totally unacceptable," he said.
