Friday, November 7, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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By Archeadious Kubai, Nairobi<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n When 29-year-old Victor<\/em> (not his real name) was arrested over a minor traffic offence in Nakuru, his family expected to see him in court the next morning. Instead, they received a call no family should ever have to answer \u2014 Victor had died in police custody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The explanation offered was vague. Months later, his family is still searching for answers \u2014 and justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Victor\u2019s case is not isolated. Across Kenya, a worrying pattern of deaths in police custody continues to haunt the justice system, raising serious questions about accountability and the protection of human rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Between 2024 and 2025, the Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU)<\/strong> documented 17 deaths in custody<\/strong> across at least ten counties \u2014 among them Nairobi, Nakuru, Mombasa, Murang\u2019a, Siaya, Kakamega, and Busia. During the same period, amid widespread protests and civil unrest, IMLU conducted 80 autopsies<\/strong>, confirming 59 protest-related deaths<\/strong> through forensic documentation \u2014 in addition to those who died while detained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The findings paint a grim picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Forensic reports reveal that several victims suffered multiple injuries consistent with assault, while others died from asphyxiation, hanging, or blunt-force trauma. In many cases, injuries were severe \u2014 yet timely medical attention was never provided. Pathologists suggest such patterns point to possible deliberate harm, neglect, or even cover-ups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each death represents not just a life lost, but a constitutional promise broken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kenya\u2019s Constitution guarantees, under Article 26<\/strong>, the right to life, and under Article 29<\/strong>, protection from torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. Yet for many families, these guarantees remain hollow. Investigations drag, files gather dust, and grieving relatives are left navigating bureaucratic darkness in search of truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In response, IMLU \u2014 with support from the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT)<\/strong> \u2014 has launched a three-day specialized training programme<\/strong> to strengthen forensic documentation and legal expertise in cases of torture and custodial deaths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The training brings together forensic pathologists and lawyers from IMLU\u2019s national network, guided by globally respected experts including Prof. Dr. Djordje Alempijevic<\/strong>, former head of the Forensic Department at Belgrade University and member of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, and Prof. James Lin<\/strong>, a leading trainer on the Istanbul Protocol<\/strong>, the international gold standard for documenting and investigating torture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis training strengthens the chain between evidence and justice,\u201d IMLU said in a statement. \u201cEvery life matters. Every death in custody must be investigated. And every family deserves the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The goal is clear: to ensure that every injury, every forensic finding, and every death is meticulously documented to withstand legal scrutiny \u2014 so that truth can no longer be buried under official silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For families like Victor\u2019s, truth is more than an outcome \u2014 it is healing, closure, and the beginning of justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Kenya confronts the grim rise in custodial deaths, strengthened forensic capacity offers a measure of hope: that evidence will speak louder than impunity, and that every life lost in state custody will move the nation one step closer to justice and accountability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" GOOD MORNING KENYAFriday, November 7, 2025 By Archeadious Kubai, Nairobi When 29-year-old Victor (not his real name) was arrested over a minor traffic offence in Nakuru, his family expected to see him in court the next morning. Instead, they received a call no family should ever have to answer \u2014 Victor had died in police …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":18634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18630"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18633,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18630\/revisions\/18633"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodmorningkenya.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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