A suspect has been arrested following the murder of an LGBTQ activist in Kenya, whose body was discovered in a metal suitcase, sparking a national outcry, police said on Friday.
The body of Edwin Chiloba, a 25-year-old designer and model, was found on the side of the road about 40 km from the Rift Valley town of Eldoret on Wednesday, according to local media.
In Kenya, LGBTQ people face precariousness and discrimination in a predominantly Christian and conservative society where homosexuality is taboo, as in many African countries. Sexual relations between people of the same sex are punishable by law with up to 14 years in prison.
Tortured, then strangled
“We have a suspect in custody, we are investigating his role in this murder,” said Peter Kimulwo, head of investigations at the Eldoret Criminal Police Office. “We think he’s the prime suspect because there are leads pointing to him, but everything is being investigated,” he told reporters.
According to him, the suspect is a longtime friend of the victim. Police are also looking for people who were seen loading a metal safe into a car at the victim’s home. According to a police source who asked not to be identified, Edwin Chilobat was “strangled” after being “tortured”.
“It is truly worrying to continue to see an escalation of violence against LGBTQ Kenyans,” the Human Rights Commission of Kenya said in a statement on Friday. “Every day, the rights of LGBTQ people are violated with no real consequences for the perpetrators,” she said, urging the police “to conduct swift investigations and ensure that the killers are arrested and prosecuted.”
Washington calls for an investigation
The LGBTQ Feminist Forum in western Kenya, where Edwin Chiloba lived, pointed out that the designer “used fashion to deconstruct gender and promote the rights of the marginalized community”.
“We want to know as a community what happened to Edwin, why he was murdered, and who dumped his body at the scene,” said the group’s program director, Becky Mududa.
The United States opposed this assassination. Washington “requires the establishment of all responsibilities,” US diplomatic spokesman Ned Price tweeted. Another LGBTQ activist was found murdered in Kenya in April.