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few and far between, serving as the exception that proves the rule. The only serious crimesfor which Human Rights Watch was able to document convictions are the following. 151 Mostinvolve ODM-affiliated suspects, and one of two murder convictions is for the killing ofpolice officers. PNU-affiliated suspects, and police officers whom themselves committedcrimes, are largely absent from the short list of convictions.1. Republic v. Robert Kipngetich Kemboi and Kirkland Kipngeno Langat: The Killing ofPolice Officers Peter Githinji and David Odhiambo 152In one of the few post-election violence-related murder cases that resulted in a conviction,Robert Kemboi and Kirkland Langat were convicted in the murder of two police officers,Peter Githinji and David Odhiambo in Bureti district, on December 31, 2007.Githinji and Odhiambo were escorting the vehicle of a private citizen, Paul Kirui Wachira,from Kisii to Kericho when they encountered a mob at Roret, a trading center in Bureti. Themob stoned the vehicle and its passengers. Wachira was knocked unconscious. Githinjiand Odhiambo were killed, their firearms stolen in the course of the attack.Two suspects—Kemboi and Langat—were caught the following day. They were part of amob that attempted to attack the home of local politician Richard Cheruiyot. Cheruiyot’ssupporters caught four members of the mob and locked them in a room in Cheruiyot’scompound. After Cheruiyot released them, he found one of the stolen firearms stashed inthe room, leading to the arrest of two of the men who had been confined there. A mobilephone belonging to Wachira was also traced to Kemboi. Kemboi did not offer a reasonableexplanation as to how he had come into possession of the phone.The judge found that circumstantial evidence, based on links between the two suspectsand the guns and cell phone taken from the scene, was sufficient to convict them ofmurder, and sentenced them to death. President Kibaki subsequently converted all deathsentences to life imprisonment. 153 An appeal filed by the accused is pending before theAppeals Court at Nakuru.151 Human Rights Watch researchers did not have the capacity to investigate all crimes prosecuted in courts throughoutKenya. Specifically, we have not been able to investigate claims in the Attorney General’s report that incidents of sexualviolence resulted in convictions in locations outside the thirteen jurisdictions visited by Human Rights Watch researchersHowever, the fact that many of the sexual violence cases we investigated in the jurisdictions we focused on proved not to berelated to post-election violence raises questions about the inclusion of these cases in the list.152 Republic v. Robert Kipngetich Kemboi and Kirkland Kipngeno Langat, Kericho High Court, HCCR 24/08, now filed asCriminal Appeal 310/09 at Nakuru Court of Appeals. Court file consulted by Human Rights Watch, Nakuru, August 22, 2011.153 Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty under all circumstances.“TURNING PEBBLES” 40

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