A Nairobi court has granted four filmmakers anticipatory bail of Ksh10,000 each in connection with the production of the Blood Parliament documentary, pending ongoing investigations.
Granting the bail, Milimani Principal Magistrate Wambo Otieno further issued a directive to the four – Nicholas Gichuki, Brian Adagala, MarkDenver Karubiu, and Chris Wamae – to present themselves at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters on May 21, 2025, for further questioning while accompanied by their lawyers.
“Each applicant is released on anticipatory bail of Ksh10,000 with one contact person. Their counsels should also avail them at the DCI headquarters on May 21, 2025, at 10 am,” Magistrate Wambo directed.
The court granted the four anticipatory bail after they filed an application under a certificate of urgency, seeking to be granted bail ahead of their appearance before the DCI for questioning on May 21, 2025.
The four, through their lawyer Ian Mutiso, argued that holding his clients longer would infringe on their constitutional rights.
Further, lawyer Mutiso told the court that the four have expressed their fears following their arrest, citing the current climate and ongoing arrests in the country.
In their application, the filmmakers sued the DCI, DCI boss Mohamed Amin, and the National Police Service (NPS), citing harassment without cause.
“The DCI and its boss, Mohamed Amin, are responsible for breaching Article 49 1(a)(c) of the Constitution, as the four herein were not accorded the right to counsel and information on the reason for their arrest and detention,” part of the application read.
Meanwhile, the DCI, through a miscellaneous application, sought to investigate various gadgets, including mobile phones, an iPad, hard drives/disks, flash drives, and laptop computers, among others, that were confiscated from their studios.
According to the DCI, they are seeking to investigate the four for the offence of publishing false information contrary to Section 23 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act No. 5 of 2018, among other offences.
Additionally, the DCI stated that their preliminary investigations into the alleged offences indicate that the applicants conspired with users of the YouTube channel accounts dubbed @BBCNewsSwahili and @BBCAfrica, and the website/blog/domain account bbc.com, to air the documentary.
The four were arrested on May 3, 2025, and taken to Muthaiga and Pangani police stations in Nairobi, days after the BBC aired part of the documentary revealing how several people were killed outside the National Assembly in June 2024 during anti-tax protests.
The matter will be mentioned on May 28, 2025, for further directions.
