“Gladys Kigo / BBC reports that seven years after their baby daughter was killed during a brutal midnight operation by police in Kenya at a time of post-election tension, Joseph Oloo Abanja and Lensa Achieng are still filled with emotion as the case against the alleged officers involved has once again been delayed.
“It is a scar that will never fade away,” Ms Achieng, a hotel worker, tells the BBC about the death of six-month-old Samantha Pendo who died with a broken skull and internal bleeding.
After each postponement or small development, the couple are inundated with calls. Each moment of hope leads to disappointment in their pursuit of justice.
The family resides in the western city of Kisumu – an opposition stronghold where riots erupted in August 2017 due to irregularities in the election results.
Samantha Pendo’s parents are eager for the case against the police officers to begin. Their small home was located along a road in the Nyalenda informal settlement where protests took place on 11 August, with anti-riot police present.
That night, the couple secured their wooden door and barricaded it with furniture. Around midnight, they heard their neighbors’ doors being broken down and occupants being beaten. Shortly after, police officers arrived at their door.
“They knocked and kicked it several times [but] I refused to open,” Mr. Abanja tells the BBC, recounting how he pleaded with them to spare his family. However, the officers persisted until they found a small opening to throw a tear-gas canister into the house, forcing the family out.
Mr. Abanja was ordered to lie down outside the door, and the beating commenced. His wife emerged holding Samantha, who was struggling to breathe due to the tear gas, and was not spared from the violence.
“They went ahead beating me [with clubs] while I was holding my daughter,” Ms. Achieng recalls.
The couple states that the officers abruptly left after Samantha was rushed to the hospital by neighbors. She passed away three days later in intensive care.
Their quest for justice has been prolonged and frustrating, much like that of numerous others impacted by the post-election violence. Twelve police officers are anticipated to be charged with murder, rape, and torture, but the hearing for this has yet to take place.
One of the victims’ lawyers, Willys Otieno, attributes the delay to a lack of political will to deliver justice to victims of election violence.
“The state is no longer interested in prosecuting the perpetrators, [and] it is now left to victims’ counsels – those of us who work with non-governmental organizations and human rights groups to put pressure for the charges to be registered and the accused persons to go to trial,” Mr. Otieno asserts.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has not provided a comment yet, but stated that “the case remains one of the most high-profile in recent history, with Baby Pendo’s death symbolizing the tragic outcomes of police brutality during the 2017 post-election unrest.”
Although investigations were critical of the police crackdown in Kisumu in August 2017, those involved in the case are troubled by the delays.
“It was the Office of the DPP that initiated this case, and they were the ones that reached out to us several years ago. They asked us to join a victim support group that was essentially established to make sure that they would have witnesses for their case,” Irungu Houghton, head of the rights group Amnesty International Kenya, tells the BBC.
After initial investigations, the DPP at the time, Nurdin’ Hajji, initiated a public inquest into the death of baby Samantha.” La jueza encontró a la policía culpable.
Posteriormente, el fiscal público ordenó más investigaciones en otros casos resultantes de la operación policial de agosto de 2017, e involucró a organismos independientes de investigación constitucional, la sociedad civil y el Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos.
La investigación descubrió evidencia que el Fiscal General dijo que apuntaba al “uso sistemático de la violencia, incluyendo asesinatos, tortura, violaciones y otras formas de violencia sexual, contra civiles, todos los cuales constituyen graves violaciones de los derechos humanos y crímenes de lesa humanidad”.
En octubre de 2022, el fiscal solicitó que los sospechosos fueran acusados, por primera vez en la historia de Kenia bajo su Ley de Crímenes Internacionales.
Los acusados incluyen comandantes considerados responsables debido a su responsabilidad como oficiales superiores, otro hecho inédito para Kenia.
En septiembre de 2023 asumió un nuevo Fiscal General, Renson M Ingonga, pero ha habido poco avance en el caso desde entonces.
Parece que “hay una falta de voluntad para tratar de enjuiciar este caso”, dice el Sr. Houghton.
Gladys Kigo / BBC
En una investigación en 2019, se responsabilizó a los policías de la muerte de Samantha Pendo y se ordenaron más investigaciones
El Sr. Otieno dice que los abogados de las víctimas podrían considerar buscar justicia a través de un enjuiciamiento privado o acudir a la Corte de Justicia del África Oriental o a la Corte Penal Internacional (CPI) si continúan los retrasos.
El gobernador de Kisumu y líder de la oposición, Peter Anyango’ Nyong’o, ha apelado ahora al presidente del Tribunal Supremo para que se haga cargo del asunto y “averigüe inmediatamente si alguien o grupos de personas están saboteando este caso para proteger a algunas personas”.
De lo contrario, está de acuerdo en que la CPI podría ser el camino a seguir: “Podríamos vernos obligados a escribir a la CPI para que intervenga si los tribunales locales continúan retrasando los casos, porque la justicia tardía es denegada”.
Los padres de Samantha apoyan esta idea ya que sin justicia dicen que no pueden sanar, cada aplazamiento les vuelve a abrir las heridas.
“No importa cómo lo haga, pero me aseguraré de que tenga justicia”, dice el Sr. Abanja, que ahora tiene 40 años y se gana la vida como conductor de tuk-tuk.
“Porque me quitaron algo que es muy valioso para mí, ella lo era todo para mí, esa niña a la que nombré en honor a mi madre.”
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Imágenes de Getty/BBC”