Kenyans five times more likely to die from police bullet
What you need to know:
- IMLU director Peter Kiama told a forum Tuesday that police were killing more people than criminals.
- By July 30, Mr Kiama said, they had recorded 160 cases of people who had died as a result of police bullets.
- Some Kenyans considered the killings “a good riddance” to eliminate criminal gangs.
Kenyans are five times more likely to die from a police bullet than from one fired by a criminal, a lobby group has said.
Independent Medico-Legal Unit executive director Peter Kiama told a forum Tuesday that police were killing more people than criminals.
Speaking during a regional conference on criminal justice at a Naivasha hotel, Mr Kiama said research conducted at local mortuaries found 60 per cent of the more than 1,800 cases documented by police died as a result of being shot by the law enforcers.
LIVES THREATENED
“It is alarming that the police are finding it easier to use a bullet when there is no exchange of fire or even when their lives are not threatened,” he said.
By July 30, Mr Kiama said, they had recorded 160 cases of people who had died as a result of police bullets, most of them suspected to be victims of extrajudicial killings.
He blamed public perception for the injustices, saying some Kenyans considered the killings “good riddance” to eliminate criminal gangs.