HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS DEMAND ACTION FROM POLICE AS MORE BODIES ARE RETRIEVED FROM EMBAKASI QUARRY
On Saturday, July 13, 2024, police and community volunteers retrieved five other badly mutilated bodies of unidentified persons, mainly women, from a quarry near Kware police station in Embakasi, Nairobi. It increased the number of recovered bodies to 13 from the scene. Independent Medico Legal Unit Executive Director Grace Wangechi said eight bodies were retrieved from the quarry on Friday, July 12.
They had taken one of the bodies from the police officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, DCI’s Homicides and Forensic Investigations units but was recovered with the help of community leaders.
Wangechi said this after the bodies were found following a worrying increase in cases of mysterious disappearances and abductions, more so after the recent protests against the Finance Bill 2024, which has claimed more than 40 lives.
“‘This horrific incident is a mass fatality issue, a grave violation of human rights and raises serious concerns about the rule of law and security in our country,” said Wangechi, who read part of the statement by the Police Reforms Working Groups, PRWG that are blaming police for the killings.
The quarry where the mutilated bodies were discovered. Photo: Joseph Ndunda
“Further, how the bodies were disposed of/disposal is an indicator of the brutality in these killings and a pointer that justice must be served considering that the National Police Service was accused of engaging in criminal activities. The PRWG is asking the government to investigate with speed, through thorough investigations, the killings to establish circumstances that led to the death and ensure accountability for the murders.”.
They want the identities of the victims to be scientifically established as well for accuracy.
The DCI’s Division of Forensic and Pathology Services and the National Registration Bureau should be prioritized immediately in collecting fingerprints of the victims, the groups want.
“Postmortems should be done together with independent observers, in a central location. As such, the bodies should be moved to one location and preserved awaiting forensic death investigations,” the groups said.
“The finding of these dismembered bodies dumped in this quarry is a grim reminder of the urgency with which human rights violations must be addressed and further publicized to ensure safety and security for all citizens.”
