According to the government pathologist, the prominent Kenyan LGBTQ activist whose body was discovered inside a metal box had been strangled and had socks shoved in his mouth.
Edwin Kiprotich Kipruto, also known as Edwin Chiloba, was discovered last week on a roadside in the west of the nation. This tragedy has sparked outrage and demands for justice from friends and civil rights organizations.
After the post-mortem, leading government pathologist Johansen Oduor informed reporters, “From our results, he died due of asphyxia, which is induced by smothering.” The 25-year-old fashion designer had his mouth and nose bound with a scrap of denim, according to Oduor. He said, “There were socks that were shoved in the mouth.
When you look at his fingernails, they were blueish in color, which is a sign of cyanosis, which indicates that he was dying from a lack of oxygen. Chiloba’s body, which was apparently dropped from a moving automobile, was found some 40 kilometers (25 miles) outside the Rift Valley town of Eldoret.
With four other suspects, freelance photographer Jacktone Odhiambo has been charged with killing Chiloba and was supposedly a lover of the man. Police were given permission to hold the five until January 31 by an Eldoret court on Monday so they could continue their homicide investigation.
Oduor stated on Wednesday that Chiloba had not sustained any additional wounds, but investigators had obtained additional samples for further examination.
Rights activists in the United States and overseas have denounced Chiloba’s gruesome passing and demanded greater protection for LGBTQ people.
LGBTQ people in Kenya frequently experience harassment and violent assaults in the country, which is largely conservative Christian.
Kenya and most of Africa are homophobic nations. Gay intercourse is still illegal in Kenya despite efforts to overturn legislation passed during the British colonial era that forbade it, and the penalties include up to 14 years in prison.
Chiloba’s passing came after the unsolved deaths of numerous other campaigners for the rights of sexual minorities, including Sheila Lumumba, Erica Chandra, and Joash Mosoti, according to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.