NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A court in Kenya on Thursday gave detectives 15 days to complete investigations into two police officers suspected of shooting and wounding a hawker during the latest street protests over the death of a blogger in custody.
The officers were arraigned in court two days after the Tuesday shooting on a busy street and under the full glare of cameras. It triggered anger and fury over persistent complaints against police brutality.
The hawker, Boniface Kariuki, remains hospitalized in critical condition in an intensive care unit.
Tuesday’s protests in the capital, Nairobi, followed tensions over the death of blogger Albert Ojwang, who was found dead while in custody at the Central Police Station.
Ojwang was arrested on June 6 in western Kenya for what police called publishing “false information” about a top police official on social media. Police attributed his death to him “hitting his head against the cell wall,” but activists have questioned the cause of death.
Protesters on Tuesday demanded the arrest of the police deputy inspector general, Eliud Langat, who had filed a defamation complaint against Ojwang.
Langat said Monday he had stepped aside and would cooperate with investigators. The two officers at the Central Police Station were arrested last week.
The officers who were accused of shooting the hawker during protests appeared in court Thursday. Klinzy Barasa and Duncan Kiprono were represented by their lawyer, Abdirazak Mohammed.
“There is a difference between public pressure and the law. The public pressure is a political thing, and law is regarding what has happened. I can’t preempt anything, there was no case brought today,” the lawyer told journalists.
The officers will remain in custody until July 3. During their court appearance, they concealed their faces with masks, sparking complaints from activists.
Kenya has a history of police brutality, and President William Ruto previously vowed to end it, along with extrajudicial killings.
Last year, several activists and protesters were abducted and killed by Kenyan police during protests against tax hikes. The demonstrations led to calls for Ruto’s removal.
Kenya police officers Duncan Kiprono, left, and Klinzy Barasa, right, accused of assaulting and shooting hawker Boniface Mwangi Kariuki during a protest, appear at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi, Kenya Thursday, June 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
CORRECTS NAME TO KLINZY BARASA - Kenyan police officer Klinzy Barasa, accused of assaulting and shooting hawker Boniface Kariuki during a protest, appears at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi, Kenya, Thursday, June 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
PARIS (AP) — The appeal trial of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen opened in Paris on Tuesday, with her 2027 presidential bid hanging on the outcome of the case.
Le Pen, 57, is seeking to overturn a March ruling that found her guilty of misusing European Parliament funds. She was slapped with a five-year ban from holding elected office and two years of house arrest with an electronic bracelet.
She says she’s innocent.
The appeal trial is scheduled to last for five weeks, with a verdict expected at a later date.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
PARIS (AP) — France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen returns to court Tuesday to appeal an embezzlement conviction, with her 2027 presidential ambitions hanging on the outcome of the case.
Le Pen, 57, is seeking to overturn a March ruling that found her guilty of misusing European Parliament funds. She was slapped with a five-year ban from holding elected office, two years of house arrest with an electronic bracelet, a further two-year suspended sentence and a 100,000-euro ($116,800) fine.
“I hope I'll be able to convince the judges of my innocence,” Le Pen told reporters Monday. “It’s a new court with new judges. The case will be reset, so to speak.”
She was seen as the potential front-runner to succeed President Emmanuel Macron in the 2027 election until last year's ruling, which sent shock waves through French politics. Le Pen denounced it as “a democratic scandal.”
Her National Rally party has been coming out on top in opinion polls, and Le Pen alleged that the judicial system brought out “the nuclear bomb” to prevent her from becoming France’s president.
The appeal trial, involving Le Pen and 11 other defendants, is scheduled to last for five weeks. A panel of three judges at the appeals court in Paris is expected to announce its verdict at a later date, possibly before summer.
Several scenarios are possible, from acquittal to another conviction that may or may not bar her from running in 2027. She could also face up to 10 years in prison and a 1-million euro ($1.17 million) fine.
In March, Le Pen and other party officials were convicted of using money intended for EU parliamentary assistants who instead had other duties between 2004 and 2016, in violation of EU rules. Some actually did work for the party, known as the National Front at the time, in French domestic politics, the court said.
In handing down the sentence, the judge said Le Pen was at the heart of a “system” set up to siphon off EU parliament funds — including to pay for her bodyguard and her chief of staff.
All denied wrongdoing, and Le Pen argued the money was used in a legitimate way. The judge said Le Pen and the others did not enrich themselves personally.
The legal proceedings initially stemmed from a 2015 alert raised by Martin Schulz, then-president of the European Parliament, to French authorities.
The case and its fallout weigh heavily on Le Pen’s political future after more than a decade spent trying to bring the far right into France’s political mainstream. Since taking over the party from her late father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, in 2011, she has sought to shed its reputation for racism and antisemitism, changing its name, expelling her father in 2015 and softening both the party’s platform and her own public image.
That strategy has paid dividends. The National Rally is now the largest single political group in France’s lower house of parliament and has built a broad network of elected officials across the country.
Le Pen stepped down as party president in 2021 to focus on the presidential race, handing the role to Jordan Bardella, now 30.
If she is ultimately prevented from running in 2027, Bardella is widely expected to be her successor. His popularity has surged, particularly among younger voters, though some within the party have questioned his leadership.
Le Pen's potential conviction would be “deeply worrying for (France's) democracy,” Bardella said Monday in a New Year address.
Far-right party National Rally president Jordan Bardella speaks during his New Year address to the press, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen arrives at National Rally president Jordan Bardella's New Year address to the press, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, center, is framed by Louis Aliot, left, and conservative lawmaker Eric Ciotti during National Rally president Jordan Bardella's New Year address to the press, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
