UNITED KINGDOM/FILE: Four elderly Kenyans have been given the legal go-ahead to sue the British government over alleged atrocities committed by the British army during the anti-colonial Mau Mau uprising

Record ID: 360736

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM/FILE: Four elderly Kenyans have been given the legal go-ahead to sue the British government over alleged atrocities committed by the British army during the anti-colonial Mau Mau uprising
  • Date: 22nd July 2011
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - JUNE 23, 2009) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) MAU MAU VETERANS AND SUPPORTERS OUTSIDE COURT POSTER READING "BRITAIN'S GULAG IN KENYA. JUSTICE NOW FOR BRUTALITY AT END OF EMPIRE" CLOSE OF FIVE VETERANS BRINGING COURT CASE FIVE VETERANS BRINGING CASE OUTSIDE COURT
  • Embargoed: 6th August 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya, United Kingdom
  • City:
  • Country: United Kingdom Kenya
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA831V4SKDR4CJ03QE4OIZML6F0
  • Story Text: Four elderly Kenyans have been given the legal go-ahead to sue the British government over alleged atrocities committed by the British army during the anti-colonial Mau Mau uprising.
    Four Kenyans were given the go-ahead at Britain's High Court on Thursday (July 21) to sue the British government over alleged atrocities committed by the British army during the anti-colonial Mau Mau uprising.
    The Foreign Office, which says it cannot be held legally liable, had asked Mr Justice McCombe to rule on the preliminary issue of whether to throw out the claims.
    Foreign Office counsel Robert Jay had argued that the test case was "built on inference" and ended in a "cul-de-sac", the Press Association reported.
    But the judge refused to throw out the claim, saying: "I have not found that there was systematic torture nor, if there was, the UK government is liable. I have simply decided that these claimants have arguable cases in law."
    Ndiku Mutwiwa Mutua, Paulo Muoka Nzili, Wambugu Wa Nyingi and Jane Muthoni Mara, who are in their 70s and 80s, flew 4,000 miles from their rural homes for the trial this spring which centred on events in detention camps between 1952 and 1961.
    They were not in court for Thursday's judgment.
    Their lawyer, Martyn Day, told journalists after the hearing that his clients suffered terrible torture at the hands of the British colonial authorities.
    "Castration, abuse, severe beatings were just some of what they had to endure as the British tried to prevent the advance of the Kenyan independence movement. Our clients have been battling for years to obtain justice for what they endured. Our government has been hell-bent on preventing that happening. Mr Justice McCombe today described the government tactics as dishonourable. He is quite right. It is time we faced up to the past and recognised that our army and government did not live up to the standards that we would have expected even 50 years ago," he said.
    Day added that he was concerned over the length of time the case was taking.
    "Obviously we accept that justice has to be done and seen to be done but we would like this case to move on absolutely as fast as possible and for justice to be given to our clients while they are still alive," he said.
    At the earlier hearing, the judge was told that Mutua and Nzili had been castrated, Nyingi was beaten unconscious in an incident in which 11 men were clubbed to death, and Mara had been subjected to sexual abuse.
    Britain argues that legal responsibility was transferred to the Kenyan Republic when it became independent in 1963.
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