DCI urged to drop charges against 4 Kenyan filmmakers

In a statement on Saturday, the lobby argued that the four filmmakers, Nicholas Gichuki, Brian Adagala, Mark Karubiu, and Chris Wamae, should not be victimised for exercising their freedom of expression. 

The working group also called upon the police officers to release the equipment seized at their Karen offices on Friday. 

"While the four film producers have since been released on free bond, we call on the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to drop the charges of "false publication" against the four and release their equipment to them,"  the statement read in part. 

"We urge the Government of Kenya to understand that with a failing economy, a burdensome taxing regime and a failed health sector, the ongoing scapegoating of critics and suppression of fundamental freedoms only serves to widen public distrust and disillusionment."

Further, they called on the police to focus its resources on prosecuting the officers identified in BBC's documentary Blood Parliament who are suspected to have killed Ericcson Mutisya, David Chege. Eric Shieni and the other 60 protesters. 

"This crackdown occurred on the eve of World Press Freedom Day is shocking. The arrests violate the constitutionally protected right to expression (Art.33) and freedom of the media (Art.34) as well as the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (Art.9), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights," the working group stated. 

The Police Reforms Working Group urged media agencies and civil society to stand with the filmmakers and called on all institutions to uphold democracy and justice. 

The statement comes after the four filmmakers were released from custody at Pangani Police Station, hours after their arrest from their studios in Karen.