By Evelyn Kwamboka and Victor Mukele

Attorney-General Amos Wako has declined to represent four senior police officers accused of killing a suspect in a cell.

The officers, who have not been charged with manslaughter as recommended in an inquiry report, will be forced to hire private lawyers.

This emerged yesterday in a case in which a widow is suing the AG for not prosecuting the officers over the death of her husband in a Migori police cell.

Mrs Zeitun Juma Hassan has named the current Kiambu CID boss Abdi Salat, Inspector Walter Kiptala, and Police Constables Mwera and Obiero as interested parties.

High Court Judges Jeanne Gacheche and Roselyne Wendoh ordered the case be mentioned today for directions.

They said the AG should file a proper document indicating he is not representing the officers.

The widow’s advocate Kethie Kilonzo told the court the AG wrote to her on April 8 indicating he will not represent the officers.

Torture claims

The widow claims her husband Abdul Ramadhan Biringe was found dead a day after he was picked up for interrogation on August 18, 2003, over an alleged theft of Sh300,000.

A postmortem showed he was tortured moments before his death.

She claims an inquiry by Migori Senior Principal Magistrate Hezron Abuok recommended that Salat, Kiptala, Mwera and Obiero "answer manslaughter charges".

"It is six years after the death of Mr Biringe, and three years after the conclusion of the inquest, but the court’s recommendation has not been implemented," Kilonzo claims.

She says the officers have neither been arrested, nor faced criminal proceedings as recommended by the Principal Magistrate’s court.

She says unless the High Court intervenes, the widow will "continue to suffer unmitigated denial of justice".

Elsewhere, the Court of Appeal sitting in Nakuru has dismissed a bid by two death row convicts to have their sentence quashed.

Appellate Judges Riaga Omolo, Erustus Githinji and Phillip Waki said they were satisfied with the evidence levelled against James Irungu Muthini and Benson Waiganjo Ngeche.

They were convicted for the murder of Samuel Mwangi Karori on December 31, 2000.