Seventeen torture survivors said to belong to the February Eighteen Revolutionary Army have been awarded Sh28.5 million by a Bungoma court.
Judge Stephen Riech said the victims had proven beyond reasonable doubt that their rights were violated by security agency during the Moi era.
The 17 had earlier told the court they were wrongfully arrested and incarcerated on suspicion of being members of the Fera movement which was formed by the late brigadier John Odongo and Joseph Wangamati, father of Bungoma Governor Wycliffe Wangamati.
One of the petitioners, Job Wanyanja, 49, told the court that his rights were grossly violated by the Special Branch officers and prison warders, adding that he was arrested at his home in Bungoma town on February 25, 1995 and taken to Bungoma police station.
He said they were blindfolded, bundled into a waiting police car and driven to Kakamega police station where they were kept in underground cells for three days without food or any contact with their families.
Wanyanja said he was held in a solitary cell where he was tortured to force him to confess he belonged to Fera, adding that he was later taken to Naivasha GK Prison detention block, while blindfolded, where he was further tortured.
“He underwent intensive torture for 40 days by being put in a cell full of mosquitoes, immersed in cold water and forced to stand for days, subjected to electric shocks and loud fan sound, mock shooting, making him watch others being tortured...,” his lawyer Gitau Mwara said.
The Attorney General had earlier objected to the petition, arguing that it was time-barred.
The AG further argued that he could not get witnesses as most of them had passed on and wanted the court to throw out the application.
Riech, however, ruled in the victims' favour saying they had failed to file the petition in time because the government had blocked them.
“It is common knowledge that the government might have played a role in blocking their quest for justice,” he said.
He said the court has assessed the nature of the torture and awarded between Sh1.5 million to Sh2.5 million each.
The victims said while the court had appreciated that they had been tortured, that amount given was far to low compared to the international standards.
“Some people have been awarded Sh5 million in previous cases with Kenneth Matiba being awarded Sh900 million,” Wanyanja said.
They vowed to appeal the ruling.
(Edited by R.Wamochie)
