Court awards ‘Standard’ Sh5m over illegal raid

By LUCIANNE LIMO

The High Court has termed the infamous raid on the Standard Group seven years ago as illegal and ordered the government to pay Sh5 million damages.

Justice Mumbi Ngugi yesterday said the attack carried out at the Standard Group’s offices and printing press by hooded police officers was unjustifiable.

She stated that Standard Group enjoys the right to privacy noting that citizens must be protected from intrusion by government agents.

“Such acts of seizure carried out by government agents was arbitrary and breach of the petitioners (Standard Group) rights and even if the move was justifiable, it was unlawful, “she added.

The group sued the Attorney General (AG) Amos Wako, Police Commissioner Major General Hussein Ali and National Security minister John Michuki.

The Standard Group took the government to court to seek damages over the attacks on its offices on March 1, 2006.

The media house sought declarations that the entry, search and other acts perpetrated by the officers at Standard premises were unlawful, illegal and in breach of the company’s fundamental rights and freedoms under the Constitution.

The Standard Group argued that the raids were in gross violation of the company’s fundamental rights and freedoms and an affront to the rule of law.

 The judge concurred with the arguments saying the manner in which the raid was carried out violated their rights to freedom of expression of the media.

 The court, however, did not declare that confiscation of the media house’s assets was illegal and in gross violation of its rights to protection from deprivation of property.

search warrants

 The company had told the court that the police did not have search warrants; neither did they take an inventory of what they seized from the offices.

 The court also failed to declare that the employees’ rights were violated, saying no evidence was produced to support the claim.

 The Standard Group had argued that the illegal raids, search and detention of its employees amounts to subjecting the Group and its employees to inhuman and degrading punishment and treatment, contrary to the Constitution.

The media house told the court that following the publication of a story touching on an alleged meeting between President Kibaki and former minister Kalonzo Musyoka, The Standard received a letter from the government spokesman threatening to take unspecified action against the newspaper if demands for an apology were not met.