A Kenyan LGBTQ rights activist’s death is under investigation, with one suspect arrested after his body was found stuffed in a metal box on the side of the road.
Edwin Kiprotich Kiptoo, commonly known as Chiloba, was found on Jan. 3 after people in the Kapsaret area noticed a metal box being dropped off by a vehicle with no license plate that then drove off, according to The Standard.
When police opened the box, they found a decomposing body dressed in women’s clothing, The Standard reported. His body was then taken to a hospital where family identified him, said the local news source.
“At about 1 am after the new year fireworks, I met him and he bid me farewell saying he would miss me,” the victim’s sister, Melvin Faith, said, according to The Star. “I did not sense any problem and little did I know that it would be the last time I was seeing my brother.”
Chiloba was last seen on Jan.1 after being out till 3 a.m. celebrating the new year with friends. Neighbors told police they heard commotion and cries from the deceased’s apartment and later saw two people loading a metal box into a vehicle and left, The Star reported.
“We suspect the noise heard earlier by the neighbors was the time the deceased was killed,” Uasin Gishu Directorate of Criminal Investigations boss Peter Kimulwo said, according to The Star.
Police have arrested one suspect in the murder but are continuing to look for two more possible suspects, according to The Star. The suspect, Jacktone Odhiambo, a friend of the deceased, is a freelance photographer based in Nairobi, said the source.
In Kenya, discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community is still prevalent, as sex between men is illegal, according to Human Rights Watch.
“This loathsome act comes as a blow to the LGBTIQ+ community and leaves us all reeling from shock! The murder itself was terrible, but the callous way his body was discarded makes the situation all the more mortifying! Edwin’s death reminds us that queer bodies continue to be under attack all over the country,” the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC) said in an Instagram post.
