The Kenyans are seeking an investigation and redress for crimes they say were committed in western Kenya’s Kericho region, now one of the most important in the world for tea production.
A case has been filed against the United Kingdom at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) by a group of Kenyans who were forcefully evicted from their land by British settlers during colonial rule.
The group filed the suit over what it said was colonial-era land theft, torture and mistreatment, demanding justice, AA reports.
According to the group’s lawyer, Joel Kimutai Bosek, the UK has been avoiding the matter whenever it has been brought up for years now, and that is the reason they went to court to file a lawsuit.
The Kenyans are seeking an investigation and redress for crimes they say were committed in western Kenya’s Kericho region, now one of the most important in the world for tea production.
“The UK Government has ducked and dived, and sadly avoided every possible avenue of redress. We have no choice but to proceed to court for our clients so that history can be righted,” said lawyer Joel Kimutai Bosek, who is representing the group.
The crimes the UK is being accused of which were committed during the colonial era include forced evictions from ancestral lands.
Bosek, who is representing the Talai and Kipsigis peoples, in a statement to the media said the UK government has “avoided every possible avenue of redress,” forcing the group to proceed to court.
The victims from the Talai and Kipsigis communities in Kericho County who suffered at the hands of the British colonialists numbered over 100,000. They were evicted from ancestral lands around Kericho in the early 20th century.
Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It would be up to the court to quantify how much redress could be owed to victims, the legal team said.
In 2019, they submitted online petitions to the UN demanding an apology and compensation for the colonial crimes meted out against them.
Kenya gained its independence from the colonial government in 1963. To this day, historians say the resistance from the Mau Mau rebel group hastened the end of colonial rule in Kenya.
