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'No CCTV, no trial': the Ojwang custody-death case stalls on erased footage

'No CCTV, no trial': the Ojwang custody-death case stalls on erased footage

A blogger died in a Nairobi police cell in June 2025; a year on, the murder trial of six officers halts because the station's CCTV was deliberately formatted hours after his death

Leaders·Courts· stalemate 谁说了算·什么崩了 ·11 takes ·更新 2026年6月24日

Summary

The murder trial of blogger-teacher Albert Ojwang — who died in a cell at Nairobi Central Police Station on the night of 7-8 June 2025 after arrest for allegedly defaming Deputy IG Eliud Lagat — stalled in 2026 because key CCTV evidence is missing. Former OCS Samson Talaam is charged alongside constables James Mukhwana and Peter Kimani and three others; all denied the charge and were repeatedly refused bail. After the trial opened on 17 March 2026, the High Court (Justice Diana Kavedza) directed Ipoa to supply the footage, the judge saying hearing dates could not be set without it. IPOA found the station CCTV deliberately tampered — the DVR cable disconnected and discs formatted on 8 June 2025 at 07:28 and 07:32 — which its chair called a coordinated effort to delete the record. A postmortem ruled out suicide, citing blunt-force head trauma. New hearing dates were reported from 20 July 2026. Lagat "stepped aside" on 16 June 2025.

By the numbers

  • 7-8 June 2025 — night of Ojwang's death in custody; postmortem ruled out suicide.
  • 8 June 2025, 07:28 / 07:32 — times the CCTV discs were formatted, per IPOA.
  • 6 — accused officers, all denied bail; trial opened 17 March 2026.
  • 20 July 2026 — reported new hearing dates, protected witnesses first.
  • 16 June 2025 — date Deputy IG Eliud Lagat "stepped aside."

Why it matters

The case is the legal afterlife of the Gen-Z protest era under William Ruto: a custody death that became a national flashpoint, now testing whether the oversight and judicial system can convict police when the evidence has been erased. Its stall undercuts the credibility of the parallel reparations push that leans on the same police records.

What to watch

  • Whether IPOA recovers or reconstructs the erased footage, or the case proceeds without it.
  • Whether the 20 July hearing dates hold and protected witnesses testify.
  • Any charges over the CCTV tampering itself.
  • How the trial's progress shapes the 25 June protest anniversary mood.