Kenyan police officers charged with murder of Indians

Thirteen Kenyan security officers pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering two Indian men and their Kenyan driver in 2022 in a politically-charged case, their lawyer said Friday.

The policemen along with a national intelligence officer and a wildlife warden went before a judge on Thursday over the killing of driver Nicodemus Mwania Mwange and the two Indians, identified by prosecutors as Mohamed Zaid Sami Kidwai and Zulfiqar Ahmed Khan.

"It is a political case. Our clients are innocent," defence lawyer Danstan Omari told AFP.

The two Indians were alleged to have worked on Kenyan President William Ruto's successful 2022 election campaign, according to media reports.

They were killed and their bodies dumped in the forest in July 2022, weeks before the election, media reported, citing evidence given by investigators in court.

The police officers were part of a unit accused of extrajudicial killings which was disbanded by Ruto about three months after the murder.

They have been in custody for two and a half years accused of abducting the three men, the defence lawyer said.

On Thursday, the prosecutor also brought murder charges against the defendants, who pleaded not guilty.

The BBC in 2022 cited Kidwai's wife as saying that he was in Kenya for tourism.

The court in Kiambu, near Nairobi, said it would rule on a bail request for the suspects on March 20, the state prosecution service said in a statement.