a court of Kenya found the former Venezuelan diplomat guilty Dwight Sagaray and three Kenyan citizens from the assassination of the interim ambassador of Venezuela Olga Fonsecafound dead at her Nairobi residence in July 2012.
In a hearing on Wednesday, the judge of the High Court of the Kenyan capital, Roselyn Korir, indicated that sagaray had a hostile relationship with Fonsecasince both wanted to head the Venezuelan embassy in Kenyalocal media reported today.
That conflict led to sagaray to assassinate Fonseca, as the judge concluded following hearing the statements of regarding 37 witnesses, many of them embassy workers.
The fights between the two were so intense that the employees of the diplomatic legation had doubts regarding who was in charge of it.
“I have determined that their statements are credible. They narrated what they saw and experienced. They have no interest in siding with either party,” Korir said, quoted today by local media.
“It is clear that the first defendant (sagaray) resisted Mrs. Fonseca take charge of the embassy,” added the magistrate responsible for analyzing nearly forty pieces of evidence in the case.
Kenyans involved
Korir also found Kenyans Ahmed Omindo, Alex Sifuna and Moses Kiprotich guilty of collaborating with the former diplomat in the assassination.
The court determined that the three met up to four times in Nairobi to plan the murder of Fonsecafor which they were able to pay 486,000 Kenyan shillings (regarding 3,580 euros).
Also participating in those meetings was another Kenyan citizen well connected in the country’s political circles, Mohamed Ahmed Hassan, a fugitive from justice who was never caught, although his arrest warrant remains in effect.
sagarayfor his part, knew regarding these plans, but never tried to stop them and allowed Hassan unlimited access to the embassy of Venezuela.
The Nairobi High Court will determine his sentence at a later date. Another defendant, also a Kenyan Kirui Chelogoi, was acquitted.
Fonseca57, replaced the previous Venezuelan ambassador in KenyaGerardo Carrillo Silva, in early July 2012, following the diplomat faced allegations of sexual harassment by his domestic staff.
The diplomat strangled to death on July 26 of that year and the Police found her body in her bed at her residence in a wealthy neighborhood of Nairobi with wire cords around her neck, hands and legs. EFE
