Court martial in Mombasa jails four ex-solders for life

MOMBASA: A military tribunal at the Mtongwe naval base in Mombasa has sentenced four soldiers to life imprisonment after finding them guilty of deserting duty without due procedure.

The four are said to have left the Kenyan military to work for US security firms in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2007 and 2008.

The sentences were delivered to the bewildered soldiers and relatives on Wednesday evening last week although the news only became available to the public over the weekend. The soldiers were immediately carted away to begin their sentences at the Shimo la Tewa prison where nine of their colleagues are serving a similar term.

“The accused will go to prison for life following the verdict of members of the court martial. As such, the trial is closed” said Judge Advocate Samuel Gacheru as the soldiers were handcuffed and led to the guard room by the military police for transportation to prison.

Private trials

Sunday, Rev. Collins Bolo, whose brother Moses Bolo was among those convicted, told The Standard; “Immediately the sentences were pronounced they were taken to Shimo la Tewa and right now, my brother is at the prison”.

Rev. Bolo attended the trial at the Mtongwe naval base and told The Standard that his family still has hope that his brother will be set free after appeal.

Lawyer Samuel Odhiambo who represented Mr Bolo disclosed that others condemned to life in jail by the six member tribunal were Victor Nabwera, Albert Mwolo and Zakaria Ochuoyi bringing to 12 the number of soldiers sentenced to a lifetime in jail since the court martial started hearing the cases in March last year.

The military court ruled that the four deserted the military “during war time” as stated on the charge sheets and hence deserved to live the rest of their lives in jail.

The four hotly disputed the accusations as wrongly framed and their lawyers have promised to appeal the sentences.

The secretive trials from which the Press has been barred, involved 25 servicemen and an officer, accused of fleeing the military in wartime.

The first serviceman to be brought to trial was charged with desertion, to which he pleaded guilty and was jailed for 18 months.

The other 25 suspects denied the charges, which were then amended to read that they deserted the forces during war time, which carries a maximum life sentence.