On May 5, 2025, the Kenyan High Court in Milimani took pleas in Kenya’s first ever crimes against humanity case. That case is finally moving toward trial!
On July 25, 2024, PJI welcomed the Kenyan High Court ruling that eleven accused police officers would have to answer the charges in the “Baby Pendo” case, a matter of systematic police attacks on civilians in Kisumu County, including the widely decried murder of Samantha Pendo (“Baby Pendo”).
The Baby Pendo case is not only the first crimes against humanity case to be brought in the Kenyan national courts. It is also the first such case alleging crimes committed in the context of post-election violence, and the first to use a theory of command responsibility, a form of legal responsibility being applied in this case under the Kenyan 2008 International Crimes Act. The charges of 47 crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, and rape, were announced on October 28, 2022.
Throughout the investigation and prosecution of the “Baby Pendo” case, PJI has accompanied a remarkable team of Kenyan senior level Prosecutors in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions’ (ODPP’s) Civil and Human Rights Division (CHRD) and a talented team of investigators from the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), since 2020. PJI was pleased to extend this work to a group of extraordinary victim advocates (lawyers) who support and represent victims in this case. We look forward to continuing to work alongside our colleagues as the case moves forward toward trial.
The “Baby Pendo” case alleges that in the days following the announcement of the presidential election results in August 2017, police killed a 6-month-old baby, Samantha Pendo, who was at home in the arms of her mother at the time. This case has received widespread attention in Kenya and beyond, with civil society and victim organisations calling for justice. An inquest resulted in a judgement calling upon the ODPP to investigate and prosecute police superiors under the theory of command responsibility. The ODPP requested PJI’s assistance in preparing this case, and following two years of technical partnership, the case finally proceeded to prosecution. The indictment alleges Samantha Pendo’s killing was part of a systematic and widespread attack on civilians living in Nyalenda, Nyamasaria, Kondele, and Obunga, all of Kisumu County, which the Pendo family called home.
PJI carries out this work in partnership with OHCHR and UN Women.
Read the Office of the Department of Public Prosecution’s announcement of the indictment.
Hear Max and Kathy discuss the indictment in a Justice Update.
READ MORE ABOUT PJI’S WORK IN KENYA.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CONTEXT OF POST-ELECTION SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN KENYA.