The court on Monday, July 8, 2025, closed the file on former Harambee Stars captain Robert Otiti and boxing trainer Suleiman Bilali on a miscellaneous application that sought to detain them pending investigations.
"This court finds that the time given for the 10 days was sufficient and hereby closes the file," Principal Magistrate Dolphina Alego stated in her ruling.
The investigating officer and prosecution in the matter had requested an additional 10 days after the initial 10 days in order to conclude investigations.
The court stated that the last application was spent and the investigating officer needed to make another one if he wanted to detain the respondents for additional days.
The Magistrate also stated that an appeal had been made on the matter, which the defense counsel, the investigating officer, and the prosecution stated they had no information about.
The defense counsel, which included lawyer Abner Mango and Embakasi East Member of Parliament Babu Owino, stated that they wanted the suspects to be discharged from the miscellaneous application.
They further made an application for the items confiscated from the respondents and the cash bail to be returned to them.
The court granted the application and directed that the cash bail deposited be returned after proper identification and verification, together with their mobile phones and identity cards.
The two respondents had been accused of allegedly publishing false information contrary to Section 23 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act.
The application, which was submitted with a supporting affidavit, stated that the suspects circulated an inflammatory and inciting message urging members of the public to attend a protest march whose aim was to unlawfully take over and occupy State House on June 25, 2025.
They were arrested on June 24, 2025, detained at the Capitol Hill Police Station, and arraigned before the court on June 26, 2025.
They were out of custody on a Sh50,000 cash bail.
