[JURIST] Kenyan police on Thursday charged five men in connection with the attack on Garissa University by al-Shabaab militants in April. The attack by Somali Islamist gunmen killed 148 students, making it the nation’s worst militant attack in nearly 20 years. While the four gunmen involved in the attack were killed by police who responded to the attack, the prosecution alleges that these five colluded to carry it out. Their roles in the attack have not yet been specified. The men pleaded not guilty [Al Jazeera report] in Nairobi court to 152 counts of committing acts of terrorism. They will be imprisoned until June 11 under the order of Magistrate Daniel Ochenja, at which time the court will determine whether to grant or deny them bail. The men claim that anti-terrorism police tortured them for ten days in an attempt to make them confess. They are the first to face charges [Reuters report] over the attack.

A Nairobi court in April ordered the 30 day detention [JURIST report] of five Kenyan citizens and a Tanzanian while authorities investigated possible connections to the university massacre. Four of the Kenyan men and the Tanzanian man were ultimately charged. Lawyers for the police said that the five Kenyan citizens were being investigated for supplying the attackers with weapons but did not give further details, while the Tanzanian citizen, who worked as a security guard on the campus, was found “hiding in the ceiling” of a university building and holding a grenade. The give Kenyan citizens were arrested while trying to cross the border to Somalia. Al Qaeda linked militant group al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility [CNN report] for the attack, with alleged al-Shabaab commander Mohamed Mohamud thought to be the mastermind behind it. The Islamist group said [NPR report] that the attack was in retaliation for the participation of Kenyan forces in an African Union force against it.