Prison is not a good place to be. It is even worse when you end up in prison and stay there for years over wrong reasons. The journey to justice for Joseph Otieno has not been a walk in the park. However, it saw the light at the end of the tunnel.
Joseph Otieno, 78, was among three lecturers who had been detained by the Moi regime on claims that they participated in the 1982 coup attempt.
Edward Oyugi, 76, and Kamoji Wachira, 75, who were also detained unlawfully received KShs 20 million each for illegal detention of two years, while Joseph was awarded KShs.6 million.
Oyugi was accused of failing to reveal the reason as to why they wanted to overthrow the government while wachira was prosecuted for using students in a plot to overthrow the state.
During the imprisonment in the three prisons, Kamiti, Shimo La Tewa and Hola prisons, the two were held in private confinement and were denied access to family or lawyers.
Otieno’s case, however, was that of mistaken identity because, after his arrest, the police realized the next day that they had detained the wrong person.
Justice John Mativo ruled that after the detention, Otieno was left distraught and could not even secure a job in the country.
“Considering both the physical and mental suffering, the destroyed careers, emotional suffering caused by separation from family members and life-threatening health complications attributed to brutality, I will award them damages,” ruled Mativo.
“The manner in which they were arrested, beaten, harassed, tortured, subjected to degrading treatment, held in degrading and inhumane conditions both at the police station and in detention, and the denial of food and medical care were all a blatant violation of the letter and spirit of Chapter Five of the retired Constitution,” continued the Judge.
In 2015, the three filed a petition.