Kenya Court of Appeal declares mandatory life imprisonment unconstitutional News
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Kenya Court of Appeal declares mandatory life imprisonment unconstitutional

A Kenyan appeals court declared Monday that mandatory life sentences are unconstitutional. The Court of Appeal at Malindi Kenya found that mandatory life sentences are “an unjustifiable discrimination, unfair and repugnant to the principle of equality before the law under Article 27 of the Constitution.”

The case reached the Court of Appeal via a petition, in which the  appellant claimed that his right to a fair trial was violated due to a lack of legal representation throughout the trial stage. The appellant also disputed the validity of his life sentence. At the trial court level, the appellant had been found guilty of defilement and sentenced to life in prison. He filed an appeal with the high court, and it upheld the lower court’s decision. Dissatisfied, he filed an appeal with the Court of Appeal.

The court analyzed the case of Vinter and Others v. UK, in which the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) reasoned that an indeterminate life sentence with no hope of parole was degrading and inhuman. The court agreed, finding that “such a sentence denies a convict facing life imprisonment the opportunity to be heard in mitigation when those facing lesser sentences are allowed to be heard.”

The court also cited the Supreme Court of Kenya’s decision in Francis Karioko Muruatetu & Others v. Republic (the Muruatetu case), which ruled that obligatory death penalties violated various provisions of the constitution. Without delving into the issue in depth, the Supreme Court in this case pointed out a gap in Kenyan law. Specifically, the court found the Kenya Judiciary Sentencing Guidelines lacked a precise definition of life imprisonment.

Taking into account the rights of incarcerated persons as embodied in Article 51 of the Constitution, the Court of Appeal overturned the appellant’s life sentence conviction. However, considering the severity of the transgression and the profound impact of the appellant’s actions on the victim, the court ordered rehabilitation alongside their of a verdict of four-decade-long imprisonment.

Reiterating the Supreme Court’s recommendations in the Muruatetu Case, the Court of Appeal urged Kenya’s attorney general and legislature to enact legislation outlining the definition and conditions of the life sentence, while taking into account the goals of criminal punishment.

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