A Nairobi Milimani Chief magistrate will on June 20, rule whether to release police constable James Mukhanwa linked to the murder of blogger Albert Ojwang who died in police custody at Nairobi’s Central police station.
Magistrate Gilbert Ondieki further ordered Mukhanwa to be detained at Capitol Hill police station.
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) filed an application seeking to detain Mukhanwa for 21 working days pending investigations.
Ojwang was arrested on June 7, by police officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in Homa Bay and transferred to Nairobi, where he was booked into custody.
He was pronounced dead hours later after being found unresponsive in a police cell and rushed to Mbagathi Hospital at around 2:00 a.m. on June 8.
He had been assaulted while in custody.
In a miscellaneous application filed at the Milimani Chief Magistrate’s Court, IPOA is seeking to hold police constable Mukhwana, who was on duty as the cell sentry on the night of the incident.
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