In a case that shocked the country, a Kenyan court has sentenced a former policeman to death for the murder of a human rights lawyer and two others.
For the June 2016 killings of attorney Willie Kimani, his client, and a taxi driver, two additional police officers and a civilian were also given sentences between 20 and 30 years.
Three counts, including murder, led to the conviction of the four.
Kenya commutes death sentences for murder to life in prison.
The 2017 Supreme Court decision, however, gave judges the authority to determine whether the death penalty can still be imposed.
An army officer behind an attempted coup in 1982 was the last person to be executed in Kenya.
The murder of Kimani highlighted the many extrajudicial killings and disappearances that have been blamed on the Kenyan police.
Former police officer Fredrick Leliman, who was sentenced to death, and the other three convicts, can appeal against their conviction and sentencing within 14 days.
In her judgement on Friday, Judge Jessie Lessit, said evidence produced during the trial had shown that the murders were premeditated and the victims brutally tortured and killed.
“No-one should experience what these three went through, especially from the same people mandated to protect them,” said Benson Shamala, the country director of International Justice Mission, where Kimani worked.
“Sadly, since the deaths of our three friends, we have continued to witness more killings by police,” he added.
The bodies of Kimani, Josephat Mwenda and Joseph Muiruri were found dumped in a river on the outskirts of the capital, Nairobi.
Kimani was defending motorbike taxi driver Mwenda who had accused policeman Fredrick Leliman of shooting him for no reason at a traffic stop in 2015.
Kimani, Mwenda and their taxi driver Muiruri were last seen on 23 June 2016 at a police station.
Their mutilated bodies were recovered two weeks later in a river almost 100km (62 miles) from the city.
Kenya’s Independent Policing Oversight Authority has recorded more than 6,000 complaints, according to data the agency has gathered since its creation 11 years ago, but few officers have been prosecuted.
