MP Babu Owino & Raila’s Bodyguard in Court, Demand Immediate Release
Embakasi East Member of Parliament Babu Owino and eight others have petitioned the court to urge the police to free them immediately and unconditionally.
Dennis Onyango, spokesman for opposition leader Raila Odinga, bodyguard Maurice Ogeta, Kilifi South MP Ken Chonga, Teddy Mwambire, Wilfred Odalo, Redson Onyango, Erick Otieno, and Anthony Otsyula are among the others.
The nine claims that on July 19, 2023, they were arrested at various locations throughout Nairobi County and spirited away to locations unknown to their family members, friends, and acquaintances in Kenya’s official opposition.
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They claim to be staunch followers of the opposition Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader Raila Amollo Odinga.
Arguing that if the police continue to hold them, their rights, which include the right to peacefully demonstrate, free movement, and free association with those exercising their political rights, will be violated.
They want the court to order their appearance in court.
They further claim, through their lawyer Danstan Omari, that they intended to participate in the three-day countrywide demonstrations before their unconstitutional, illegal, and covert abduction and arrest.
“…the Respondents continue to unlawfully detain the Applicants without the authority of the courts and knowledge of their whereabouts being known to their loved ones, and as such this Court is enjoined by law to order their release or immediate presentation before the court if the Applicants have committed any offense cognizable in law,” court papers state.
MP Babu Owino & Raila’s Bodyguard in Court, Demand Immediate Release
