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Independent AfricaCourt sentences ex-policeman who killed Kenyan lawyer to death penalty

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Court sentences ex-policeman who killed Kenyan lawyer to death penalty

An ex-policeman who killed a well-known human rights attorney and two other people more than six years ago has been found guilty in Kenya and given the death penalty.

Even though the death penalty is legal, Kenya does not actually execute death row inmates.

For the June 2016 killings of attorney Willie Kimani, his client, and a cab driver, two additional ex-policemen and a citizen received sentences ranging from 15 to 39 years in jail.

On three charges, including murder, the four were all found guilty last year.

Each of the four has a 14-day window in which to contest their verdict and sentence.

Justice Jessie Lessit stated in her ruling that the evidence presented throughout the trial had demonstrated that the killings were premeditated and the victims had been cruelly tortured and executed.

On the outskirts of Nairobi, the bodies of Willie Kimani, Josephat Mwendwa, and Joseph Muiruri were discovered after being discarded in a river.

In 2015, police officer Fredrick Leliman, one of the three officers found guilty, was accused of shooting motorbike taxi driver Josephat Mwenda without cause during a traffic stop. Mr. Kimani was defending Mwenda.

Mr Kimani, Mr Mwenda and their taxi driver Joseph Muiruri were last seen on 23 June 2016 at a police station.

Their mutilated bodies were recovered two weeks later in a river almost 100km (62 miles) from the city.

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