Petition filed at East African court seeking Ruto, Gachagua prosecution over protest deaths

In a notice to the Arusha-based court, Awino claimed that the government violated their constitutional right to protest, resulting in injuries, deaths, abductions, and forced evictions.

He referenced reports from human rights groups that placed fatalities from protests at 60 and 66 mysterious disappearances. 

Awino urged  the court to issue an order holding President William Ruto, his deputy Rigathi Gachagua, Attorney General, Interior CS Kithure Kindiki, and former Inspector General Japhet Koome criminally responsible.

Awino also urged the court to direct the AG to conduct thorough investigations into the human rights violation during the protests and an order for all officers to desist from committing violence against protestors.

In the petition, the Bunge la Mwananchi president referenced the Githurai shooting, where he alleged that military officers opened fire on protestors, resulting in casualties. 

He added that the state suppressed the media by disrupting internet services during the protests and forcefully evicted thousands of residents in Mathare, Mukuru and Kibera from their homes. 

"While demolitions in slums were aggressively pursued, similar structures in affluent areas were largely untouched, highlighting a discriminatory application of the law," the notice read in part.

"The demolitions have been accompanied by police violence, resulting in injuries and deaths among the residents. Notably, a 17-year-old boy was killed during the resistance to forced evictions in Mathare slums."