AP News, August 25th, 2007
A lawyer working for the Roman Catholic Church said on Friday that the FBI hasn't hasn't released evidence related to the death of an American priest in Kenya seven years ago.
Mbuthi Githinji said the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation was in possession of a shotgun that belonged to Father John Kaiser and original documents, which he described as crucial to the investigation.
"We only have copies of the documents, some of which are illegible. We do not have a ballistics report on the gun since they are in possession of it," he said.
Githinji was speaking during a forum held to commemorate the seventh anniversary of when the 67-year-old priest's body was found on the side of a busy highway between the town of Naivasha and Nairobi, the capital, on Aug. 24, 2000.
The FBI checked into Kaiser's death in 2000 at the Kenyan government's invitation and concluded he likely shot himself, but Senior Principal Magistrate Maureen Odero, who presided over a new inquest this month, found that the priest was murdered.
In Washington, FBI spokesman Stephen Kodak told The Associated Press in a telephone interview the "we stand by our initial report that we provided the government."
He decline to comment on whether the FBI still had Kaiser's shotgun, which was found by his side, or documents relating to the case.
Githinji said the FBI did not cooperate during a public inquiry at the magistrate's court. The three detectives who had been involved in the investigation did not show up to testify even though the court rescheduled the date for them three times.
Kodak said that the three experts were ready to testify, had given dates that they were available and were never called. "We regret the fact that the FBI was never allowed to testify in the previous hearing," he said.
Kaiser was known for his crusading human rights work, and had accused some of Kenya's most powerful politicians of being responsible for political violence in 1991-92 that was carried out under the guise of tribal fighting. He also helped teenage girls pursue cases of rape against a former powerful Cabinet member.
