Mungiki raped, forcibly circumcised and amputated victims' genitals

By Vitalis kimutai

Victims of the post-election violence were subjected to rape, forced circumcision and penile amputation in Nakuru and Naivasha, ICC prosecution claimed.

The sexual attacks were allegedly targeted at members of the Luo, Luhya and Kalenjin communities in the two towns in Rift Valley Province, which were alleged to have been abetted by the police with full.

Luo men were allegedly subjected to forced circumcision, penile amputation and castrations using broken bottles, pangas and knives by members of the outlawed Mungiki group.

ICC prosecutor Adesola Adeboyejo told the Pre-Trial Chamber II that the attacks were conducted with the full knowledge of the three suspects – Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura and former Police Commissioner Hussein Ali.

The rapes and other forms of sexual violence were allegedly executed in the open, in homes, public arena and streets by the attackers.

"Luo men were forcibly circumcised, others castrated in front of their families in a move meant to degrade and deprive the victims of their dignity," Adeboyejo said.

Broken bottle

"A Luo man was forcibly circumcised using a piece of broken bottle in Nakuru while another one had his testicles cut," she added.

Many women who were gang raped became pregnant while others contracted HIV.

She revealed that 524 victims of sexual attacks were treated at Nairobi Women’s Hospital. Out of these 80 per cent had been raped and 54 percent of the victims were from Nairobi region.

The prosecutor stated that 22 men and 37 boys who were subjected to sexual violence were also treated at the hospital.

Many other cases were not reported due to failure by the victims to secure transport and lack of security.

"Forced nudity, mutilation of sexual organs and violation of privacy of the victims were designed to destroy their masculinity and force non-locals to flee," the prosecution stated.

At the Nakuru Provincial General Hospital, records availed by the Ministry of Health showed that six patients who had been subjected to forced circumcision had been treated at the facility.

"These cases of forced circumcision targeted at the Luos were crude and traumatic experiences because circumcision conducted in hospitals or in a tradition set up are all surgical," Adeboyejo said.

A 22-year-old man had his penis cut off in the attacks in Nakuru, which also targeted boys aged between five and 11 years. Those who resisted the forced circumcision attempts were beheaded, according to the prosecution.

"There were four cases of Luo men being circumcised while another had his penis cut on January 25, 2008 on a day where seven male victims from the same community were admitted at Nakuru, Rift Valley Provincial General hospital suffering from various cases of sexual abuses," Adeboyejo said.

In Naivasha, men were asked to remove their underpants so as to ascertain whether or not they were circumcised as a way of establishing the communities they were from.

"Federal of Women Lawyers records shows that several members of the Luo community were castrated during the attacks," the prosecutor submitted.

She said the sexual abuses were powerful forces of destruction and that the suspects in the case had anticipated it, adding that criminal gangs were unleashed on helpless civilians.

During the attacks, pangas, knives, petrol bombs and spiked gloves were used by the gangs against the victims in a planned, systematic, vicious assault against ODM supporters meant to ensure PNU retained in power.

Business premises belonging to Kalenjin community members in Naivasha and Nakuru were broken into, looted and petrol bombed according to the evidence submitted by the prosecution.

"Uhuru, Muthaura and Ali knew the displacements would occur as a result of the attacks as they wanted to ensure that members of the Kalenjin, Luo, or Luhya communities perceived to be ODM supporters vacated the region," Adeboyejo said.

Agents of Kikuyu landlords allegedly identified for the attackers houses, which members of the Kalenjin, Luo, and Luhya communities resided in prior to the violence.

A prosecution witness claimed in a statement presented to the Pre-Trial Chamber II that a gang of attackers descended on her home, killed her husband and repeatedly raped her leading to her contracting HIV.

The court heard that victims and their families were subjected to great mental suffering by the heinous cases of hacking, amputation of limbs, destruction of homes and property, looting of goods and petrol bombings.