Medical examiners in Kenya stated on Tuesday that suicide was unlikely in the death of Albert Ojwang, a 31-year-old man who died in police custody.
The case has ignited widespread anger and protests.
Ojwang was arrested for social media posts accusing police deputy inspector-general Eliud Kipkoech Lagat of corruption.
Police initially claimed Ojwang died in his cell over the weekend after hitting his head against a wall. However, government pathologist Bernard Midia, one of five experts examining Ojwang’s body, told reporters that the injuries were “unlikely to be self-inflicted.”
According to the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), Ojwang was arrested in western Kenya but was transferred more than 250 kilometres to Nairobi “without proper orders from the court.”
Kenya is already on edge, marking a year since large protests against tax rises and corruption led to a police response that resulted in at least 60 deaths.
Pathologist Bernard Midia detailed the autopsy findings, stating, “The cause of death is very clear: head injury, neck compression, and we also have other injuries spread all over the body that are pointing towards assault.”
His colleague, Geoffrey Mutuma, added there were “a lot of injuries in the skin, in the back… inflicted with a lot of force,” and noted “what we call self-defence injuries.”
Following the postmortem results, protesters marched to the deputy inspector general’s office, demanding his immediate resignation.
Activist Geoffrey Mboya told AFP, “The results were coinciding well with our argument that Albert Ojwang was murdered in the central police station.”
Protesters have labelled the deputy inspector general as “the main suspect,” with activist Shakira Wafula demanding, “We want Eliud Lagat to resign…so that investigations can be done properly.”
Police spokesman Michael Muchiri confirmed on Tuesday that five officers have been removed from active duty to “allow for transparent investigations,” adding that the “suicide theory has been banished” after the postmortem results.
The victim’s father, Meshack Ojwang, simply stated, “This is a heavy burden for my family.”
Veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga, writing on X, asserted that Ojwang “joins the horrifying long list of young and defenceless Kenyans whose lives have been taken too soon, in brutal and senseless circumstances, at the hands of the police.”
Rights groups have previously reported dozens of illegal detentions and disappearances following last year’s protests, with others arrested for minor government criticism.
Odinga, who has allied with President William Ruto’s government this year, warned that such deaths “seriously erode the authority and credibility of the police and the state.”
