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Kenyans are risking their lives to keep track of killer cops

Since 2008, Francis Sakwa has documented more than 200 cases of police brutality in Kenya, and has been arrested more than 30 times. Fearing for his life and his family's safety, Sakwa continues to hide from law enforcement. 

Since 2008, Francis Sakwa has documented more than 200 cases of police brutality in Kenya, and he’s been arrested more than 30 times. Fearing for his life and his family’s safety, Sakwa continues to hide from law enforcement.

“Maybe it’s god’s grace why they have never thought of killing me,” he says.

Sakwa keeps going because his work is important, retrieving empty bullet cartridges, collecting cell phone videos, and speaking with victims’ families. When Kenya’s recent controversial presidential elections plunged the country into political chaos, his research helped human rights organizations show the world that police were beating, shooting and killing with impunity political protesters who opposed the government of President Uhuru Kenyatta.

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Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch released a report documenting 33 unlawful police killings in Nairobi alone following Kenya’s first presidential election, in August, which the country’s Supreme Court later nullified. A local civil rights organization said at least 13 people died after being shot by law enforcement in the days following the repeat election, in October, which was boycotted by opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Government officials deny that police are targeting opposition protesters.

Read more: Kenya’s police forces are extrajudicially killing young men with impunity

But Sakwa sees that justice isn’t always served and says his work to document police misconduct and publish cases nationally and internationally serves a higher purpose. “It’s a record,” he said. “A record of how our police is dealing with its citizens [that] can never be erased.”

This segment originally aired Nov. 1, 2017, on VICE News Tonight on HBO.