A human rights lawyer and two other people were murdered in 2016; three Kenyan police officers and an informant were found guilty on Friday.
Their sentencing will be given at a later time by the Nairobi capital court. A fourth officer was cleared of the accusations by the court, which cited a lack of proof.
Attorney Willie Kimani, cab driver Joseph Muiruri, and motorbike taxi driver Josephat Mwenda’s deaths provoked days of nonviolent protests and a strike by Kenyan attorneys calling for an end to the police shootings that some claim are routine.
When motorcycle taxi drivers set fire to the police station where the three victims are thought to have been kept before they were killed, the protests eventually turned violent.
Later, divers pulled their bodies from a river.
According to a pathologist’s report given to the court, Mwenda had his testicles crushed, his head cracked, and injuries from a blunt object on the other two bodies.
Kenyan police have occasionally been accused of executing suspects without any supporting evidence. Along with other wrongdoings, they are frequently charged with leading killing squads.
For a rights organization with a U.S. base called the International Justice Mission, Kimani worked as a lawyer in Kenya.
