- Kiambu magistrate’s court will first rule on his application to be released on bond in multiple cases of assault and robbery.
- Kahawa West court will make a ruling on an application by police to be allowed to detain Sonko for 30 days as they investigate terror related charges.
Image: COURTESY
Former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko will on Tuesday know whether he will be freed after two key court rulings.
A Kiambu magistrate’s court will first rule on his application to be released on bond in multiple cases of assault and robbery.
A Kahawa West court will make a ruling on an application by police to be allowed to detain Sonko for 30 days as they investigate terror related charges.
His legal team is concerned about reports that police plan to revive old cases that they believe were settled. One of the lawyers said they are concerned a file in Mombasa registry cited as file 275 is missing.
“We don’t know why they want to revive a matter that was dealt with years back. We will fight the attempts,” said a lawyer who added the file on the case was missing.
The lawyer said the police had notified them of the new probe on the old case which involved the former governor being released from jail by a judge based on documents he presented.
Sources said officers from the Serious Crimes Unit at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations visited Mombasa court and Shimo La Tewa prisons as part of efforts to revive the case.
But the legal team said they were not moved by the plans and are ready to fight the same.
On Monday, head of Anti-Terrorism Police Unit John Gachomo said they were holding nine men believed to be aides to the former governor.
He said the nine will be presented in the anti-terrorism court in Kamiti alongside Sonko.
“They are under investigation over these terror links. We will present them in a court of law tomorrow [today],” he said.
There was panic at the weekend as police rounded up the aides from different parts of the city and searched their houses in the ongoing probe into claims of their involvement in terror activities.
Seven aides were arrested on Saturday and Friday in an operation conducted by detectives in plain clothes outside City Hall and some from their homes and on the roads.
This increased to nine the number of those in custody alongside Sonko over claims they were training a militia group to terrorise the country.
Police went to the Nairobi homes of those arrested and seized a number of items including jungle military uniforms, which they said are part of the items they are using for their alleged training.
They also took away knives from the homes as panic spread among Sonko's friends and supporters who feared they may be targeted.
The operations were being done by officers from Anti-Terror Police Unit who seemed to have names of those targeted.
The first people to be arrested were his aides Clifford Ouko and Benjamin Ochieng who were Thursday produced at the Kahawa West court for attempting to rescue Sonko.
The prosecution wanted to have the two be detained for 30 days pending investigation into the issue. They were arrested on February 3 outside Kamiti where they allegedly planned the rescue. This was after Ochieng went on facebook live outside Kamiti saying Sonko was locked up there.
The magistrate at the court ordered they be detained until today when they together with Sonko appear in court for hearing of an application by the prosecution to hold him for 30 days as they investigate terror claims.
An affidavit by police said they recovered military uniforms, SIM cards, a laptop and assorted mobile phones from the two.
Inspector Ezekiel Luley of Anti Terrorism Police Unit swore an affidavit saying the two have been wearing military attire against the Kenyan laws. He added the two planned to attack parts of the country and cause mayhem.
Sonko spent his weekend at the Gigiri police cells ahead of two rulings on his release.
The court at Kamiti prisons that was hearing an application by the prosecution to hold him in custody for 30 days deferred the ruling to today, which is the same day a Kiambu court is expected to make a ruling on his bail application in an assault case.
Sonko's lawyers led by John Khaminwa, Assa Nyakundi, Evans Ondieki and Alfred Nyamu said the move by police amounted to abuse of power and would claw back on gained reforms.
Sonko’s attempts to be released by a Kiambu court last week failed after a magistrate who was to issue a determination of his application to be released on bail failed to show up in court.
Sonko is facing multiple assault charges.
The Judiciary had last year opened the Kahawa West Law court which is within Kamiti prisons. It is the first and largest court in Kenya dedicated to counter-terrorism cases and related high-risk cases.
Sonko is since last Monday when he was arrested being guarded by officers from ATPU, which deals with terrorism suspects. In the new case, police accuse him of recruiting a militia which is likely to destabilise security.
An affidavit sworn by ATPU chief inspector Newton Thimangu says the former governor has been wearing a military attire that is associated with terrorism groups who pose a national security to the sovereignty of this country, hence need to have the said suspect detained for comprehensive investigations.
“The suspect herein has started arming his private security agents with full military attire namely military boots, military jungle uniforms and firearms.
"The suspect who was in company of unknown persons had worn militia attire and together with the suspect they were both spotted in public in full glare of the media and in front of huge mass of people in a public rally,” says part of affidavit.
He added he had intelligence Sonko is linked to financing of terrorism activities and is at an advanced stage of procuring arms and ammunition using a wide syndicate which is complex and sophisticated.
Edited by Henry Makori