Julius is a seasoned human rights defender, freedom fighter and very passionate about human rights. He has been consistently advocating for good governance and accountability. He has been an activist for the last 15 years and to him, activism is a calling that should unite everyone who seeks a better country.
He works closely with the Social Justice Centres Working Group, a conglomerate of grassroots social justice centres seeking to combat neo-liberalism and neo-colonialism and working to advance social justice and human rights across the country.
He plunged into activism in 2010 when, as a hawker, he would constantly be harassed by Nairobi City County inspectorate officers, commonly known as kanjos.
He got into activism because of what he says he saw our people going through. Hawkers were being beaten and frustrated by county inspectorate officers. This made him rise against such injustices. He started mobilising hawkers and educating them about their rights. Since then Julius immersed himself in human rights activism, he says he is not afraid of being arrested because “you go to a battle to win and you must stand up for what you believe is right”.
Case Details:
Julius Kamau Kimani was arrested on the 12 of December 2023 at Uhuru Gardens in Langata Sub County in Nairobi County. That day, the Police at Langata Police Station declined to release him on police cash bail. Consequently, he spent the night of the 12th of December and was arraigned in court on the 13th of December, 2023.
He was charged with the offence of creating a disturbance in a manner likely to cause a breach of the peace contrary to Section 95 (1) (b )of the Penal Code. The particulars of the charge are that on 12 December 2023, at Uhuru Gardens in Langata Sub County within Nairobi County, at around 13.30 hours, created disturbances in a manner likely to cause a breach of peace by carrying a placard written, ‘poverty is man-made and colonialism never really ended,’ shouting loudly with the intent to disrupt the president who was giving his speech at the main dias.
During the plea-taking session, Defenders Coalition’s legal team appeared on record for Mr. Kimani and advised him to deny the charge. He was released on a cash bail of Kshs 10,000, which the Defenders Coalition processed, and his liberty was secured.
The court mentioned the case for the first trial conference on 5 January 2024 and fixed the matter for hearing on 15 April 2024. The prosecution told the court that the the police did not bring the police file to court. The matter was again set down for a pretrial conference on 5 March 2024. The legal team appeared in court on 5 March 2024, but the prosecution told the court the same story: the police file was unavailable. The court gave a further mention date, 12 March 2024. The legal team appeared for the last pretrial conference on 12 March 2024, and the court was told us the same old story of the lack of a police file.
The prosecution attempted to withdraw the case under Section 87 (a) of the Criminal Procedure Code. We agreed to the withdrawal of the matter but opposed the withdrawal of the matter under Section 87 (a) of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The magistrate agreed with the legal team and acquitted Kamau under Section 210 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Therefore, Mr. Kimani is not likely to be arrested when the police get more evidence against him.
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