MP Oscar Sudi denies hate speech, offensive conduct charges

By , K24 Digital
On Wed, 23 Sep, 2020 12:19 | < 1 min read
Oscar Sudi
Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi (centre, front) when he arrived at the Nakuru Law Courts on Wednesday, September 23, 2020. PHOTO | ELIJAH CHERUTICH
Oscar Sudi to face only two charges as state drops three

Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi on Wednesday was charged with hate speech and offensive behaviour over his utterances against President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The vocal MP denied the three counts he was charged with before Nakuru's Senior Principal Magistrate Lilian Arika.

The magistrate also upheld the bond terms set by the High Court for the MP to be released on Sh500,000 cash bail or Sh1 million bond.

But the MP was barred from addressing political rallies as a condition for his release on bond.

The magistrate said that Sudi should appear in court on October for pretrial.

The state dropped three charges it had intended to charge Sudi with.

During the first appearance of the MP before Nakuru Chief Magistrate Josphat Kalo, the prosecution through Daniel Karuri had filed a miscellaneous application to charge the MP with five counts, including hate speech, offensive conduct, assaulting a police officer, illegal possession of firearm and ammunition and resisting arrest.

However, the charge of assaulting a police officer, unlawful possession of firearm and ammunition, and resisting arrest were dropped after investigations were completed.

Last week, after the MP was ordered detained for seven more days, he successfully appealed the order at the High Court and was subsequently released on bail.

High Court judge Joel Ngugi set him free on a cash bail of Sh500,000 or a bond of Sh1 million after faulting the lower court.