Former Kenya Air Force Commander Major General ( Rtd) Peter Kariuki ( Photo Courtesy)
His fight for justice continues 41 years later after being fired from the military in the aftermath of the aborted 1982 coup.
Besides serving life in jail, former Kenya Air Force commander Major General Peter Kariuki was stripped of his military rank and medals.
The command responsibility pull-through after 1982 coup went all the way to the service Commander
After the mutiny by his soldiers had been quelled, Major General Kariuki was soon thereafter arrested and confined for some time at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, Nairobi.
Subsequently he was transferred to Naivasha Maximum Security Prison where he was held in solitary confinement for 147 days.
On 10th January, 1983, the he appeared before a court martial and was charged with the offences of;
(1) failing to prevent a mutiny contrary to section 26(a) of the Armed Forces Act, cap 199 Laws of Kenya (now repealed), and
(2) failing to suppress a mutiny, contrary to the same provision.
The court martial was presided over by Major General Lenges, with F. E. Aragon, then a Senior Resident magistrate, as the Judge Advocate.
On 18th January,1983, the court martial convicted the service commander of the two offences and sentenced him to four years imprisonment, the sentences to run concurrently.
In addition, he was dismissed from the Kenya Armed Forces and stripped of his rank, benefits, medals and decorations.
Though the High Court would later clear the name of the former Kenya Air Force commander with his medals, ranks restored, his life has never been the same again.
Besides the restoration of his military ranks, Major General ( Rtd ) Kariuki was also awarded millions by the court for damages. But since then, the government is yet to act even as his long search for justice continues.