Kenyian supreme court declares mandatory death penalty unconstitutional

The mandatory death penalty violates fundamental human rights, rules the Supreme Court of Kenya today in a historic judgment that will affect thousands of prisoners.

Prior to the judgment, any person convicted of murder, or robbery with violence, in Kenya would automatically receive the death penalty, without any consideration of the individual circumstances of their case. The Death Penalty Project has been litigating this issue in Kenya for over a decade, arguing that depriving judges of discretion over whether to impose a death sentence violates the right to a fair trial and amounts to an arbitrary deprivation of life.

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