111 300
City’s top-notch lawyers Dastan Omari and Cliff Ombeta have accused the police of taking Kenya back to the old dark days when suspects would be arrested, detained, and tortured.
This comes after they were denied access to their client, former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rachid Echesa, who was arrested on Wednesday and detained at Muthaiga Police Station for allegedly kidnapping himself.
According to the lawyers, Echesa was arrested by detectives after presenting himself before them in Nairobi, but later he was detained for more than 24 hours, which is against the constitution.
“We came here to see our client, Rashid Echesa, the former Sports Cabinet Secretary. Unfortunately, we have been denied access by the police officers at Muthaiga Police Station. This is unconstitutional, and all the officers behind this will be responsible for anything that happens to our client,” said Omari.
“My client has not received or accessed any services from either his lawyers or family, despite being arrested on Wednesday. We expected the police to arraign him in court, but that has not happened. We are going back to where we were, which is very wrong,” Omari added.
“Our client was arrested in front of the governor of Kakamega, Fernandez Baraza, who was surrounded by armed police officers. He recorded a statement with the police; he was even admitted to Nairobi Hospital for treatment following the injuries inflicted on him by the detectives. Is this right?” questioned Omari.
On his part, lawyer Cliff Ombeta declared war on the police by stating that he will file a case against them, especially those who were on duty, to ascertain exactly who is responsible for holding the former CS Rashid Echesa in custody for more than 24 hours.
“We are yet to access our client, who was arrested yesterday. We have been directed to go to the DCI headquarters to seek orders before we can access our client, who is yet to be produced in court. This is unacceptable and goes against the constitution. Our client was to be arraigned in court today after being arrested on Wednesday, but that has not happened. We are going to deal with all the police officers who were on duty to ascertain why they have infringed on our client’s rights,” said Ombeta.
The former Sports Cabinet Secretary was arrested by detectives on Wednesday shortly after honoring their summons to appear before them at the Nairobi regional headquarters over allegations that he kidnapped himself.