Dennis Itumbi, a State House operative and blogger who was arrested on suspicion of links to an alleged forged assassination letter, was freed on Ksh100,000 bail on July 10.
The blogger who was arrested last week and held for five days on suspicion of faking a letter alleging the assassination of Deputy President William Ruto, was released with stringent conditions placed on his bail terms.
Itumbi for example will not be allowed to post anything on social media relating to the case. The social media restriction is however also extended to parties within the case, presumably sucking in the lawyers, prosecution, as well as the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) into the social media ban.
Magistrate Zainab Abdul said that the blogger will also have to leave his passport with the court for safekeeping, presumably so that he does not flee the country in light of the charges against him.
Itumbi will also have to report to the Muthaiga Police Station every two days (except on weekends) for the next nine days at “convenient times to be agreed with the investigating officers.”
Whereas the magistrate also ordered that Itumbi’s power bank be released immediately, the court said that his mobile phone devices and SIM cards which had been taken by sleuths at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) will be only be returned after the lapse of 14 days.
The case will next be heard on July 22.
In awarding bail to the Digital Secretary of Innovations & Diaspora Communications within the presidency, the court declined a request from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to detain for a further nine days.
Magistrate Abdul was against the extension of Itumbi’s detention which would have brought his stay in police cells to 14 days.
“Fourteen days is too long a period since investigations already commenced on June 20. The respondent’s phone has also been confiscated for forensic examination,” Abdul ruled.
Lead investigator Yvonne Anyango had tried to justify the extension by saying that the allegations against Itumbi are a serious threat to national security and could constitute a serious criminal offence.
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