Francis Mutunge Mwangi
Francis Mutunge Mwangi is a human rights defender who works with the Ruaraka Social Justice Centre, where he documents cases of police misconduct and supports accountability initiatives at the community level. His human rights work focuses on monitoring security sector abuses and mobilising civilians to seek justice and institutional reform.
While Kenya maintains the appearance of a country where the public space is open, specific categories of human rights defenders encounter a wide range of risks as a result of their work. These include human rights defenders and journalists working on highly sensitive corruption issues, those who document or contribute testimony on past violence (including the 2007/2008 post election violence and frequent extra-judicial killings by the police) as well as those using peaceful demonstrations as an advocacy tool.
Human rights defenders denouncing human rights violations committed by the police forces have continuously faced reprisals. Members of civil society organisations have been repeatedly arrested and subjected to ill-treatment while in detention, received threatening anonymous calls and some have undergone trials under accusations of “belonging to an illegal organisation” and “participation in an illegal protest.”
