Record! Record! Kenyans urged to document all instances of police brutality as evidence for future prosecution

There is a clamour to record all illegal and excessive activities the law enforcement authorities are entangled in during the anti-government protests as lawyers argue that, by so doing, the perpetrators can always be brought to justice, no matter how long it takes.

For the last one month now, Kenyans have battled it out in the streets alongside the police as the anti-Finance Bill protests morphed into a wider movement which shook the highest office in the land and even claimed political and government casualties.

The biggest losses, however, were the over 60 lives of young Kenyans who were brutally murdered by the police as they hit the streets to exercise their democratic rights to picket, demonstrate and petition the government.

Most of these young protesters were shot and killed in broad daylight, by plain-clothed officers with the media still reporting and the cameras still rolling.

Undeterred, these officers shot at crowds of protesters, some perching themselves on top of buildings and aiming at unarmed demonstrators, sniper-style, killing them on the spot.

Even though this has been happening for weeks now, no action has been taken against any police officer, uniformed or not, who may have been captured killing innocent Kenyans either in Nairobi or any other town.

As the killings escalated, Kenyans started unmasking, almost literally, some of the criminal police officers involved - they widely circulated their faces, names, work stations and police history with the hopes of having them apprehended, or, at least, interdicted.

Public anger has, however, produced no result as the police oversight authorities, as well as the Presidency and various other stakeholders, have remained mum on the killings, sometimes, even appearing to send the same batch of known killers onto the streets to further butcher Kenyans.

Online, some lawyers have now taken the initiative to encourage Kenyans to record all these police excesses with the hope of, one day, bringing them to justice and having them tried for their heinous crimes as Kenyans clamoured for better governance.

On X, a popular lawyer who goes by the username Abu Iman explicitly asked Kenyans to always carry a camera along with them, urging them to always document the criminal activities of the killer cops as they would, in the fullness of time, eventually have their own date with legal destiny.

"Please don't stop recording and documenting everything these killer cops do. Record it all. Criminal liability has no statute of limitation to it. One day we will hold people to account. If we are still doing cases from their actions from 2017, sembuse hawa?" he wrote.

Iman went on to press Kenyans to always have their evidence backed up in their mobile phones as this was the only way to store evidence to eventually be used in court - either during this regime or even in another.

"Regimes change all the time, and we can wait this one out if we can't drive it out. Then one day, we must balance the scales. You cannot kill kids and then get to see yours grow in peace. No way. We fought for Willie, we'll fight for Rex and everyone else killed!" he added.

For instance, the baby Pendo case is still ongoing, more than seven years after it happened in Kisumu.

On July 26, Nation reported that 11 police officers would be charged with the killing of Baby Samantha Pendo and 39 protesters in Kisumu County at the height of post-election violence in 2017.

High Court Judge Kanyi Kimondo ruled that the senior police officers should appear in court on October 3, 2024, to face charges of murder.

The judge dismissed the applications filed by the police officers arguing that the High Court had no jurisdiction to handle the charges under the International Crimes Act.

Over the last month, a lot of the arrests, abductions and killings of Kenyans have been recorded and shared widely by Kenyans.

This has, to a very significant degree, played a very pivotal role in the speedy release of the abductees and the dropping of their trumped-up charges.

On X, someone agreed saying, "It's true. We always need to be vigilant and record every little thing these killers do. Without evidence, we cannot win either in court or even on these online streets. We need to document everything and bring these culprits to book. That way, justice shall be served."

Back in 2020, widespread protests broke out across the US after the grim murder of George Floyd, a black-American man who was 'kneeled' by a White police officer until he breathed his last.

As the officer pressed his knee against Floyd's neck, who repeatedly mouthed, "I can't breathe", onlookers kept recording, eventually releasing the disturbing videos and, ultimately, sparking off unprecedented nationwide protests across America.

In April 2021, Veteran officer Derek Chauvin, who kneeled on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.

In June 2021, Chauvin was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison.

"Kenyans, let's keep sharing these videos and photos of these trigger-happy cops," Stephen Ouko said.

"It may take a year, or five years, or ten years. But as long as we still have the evidence with us, these criminals will eventually face justice! Keep recording them!"