In order to allow Gilbert Masengeli, the acting inspector general of police, one more opportunity to appear in court before being sent to jail, the presiding judge has also deferred the sentence for a period of seven days.

Gilbert Masengeli, the acting Inspector-General of Police, was given a six-month prison sentence by a judge at the High Court in Nairobi, Kenya, on Friday for disobeying court orders.

It was discovered that the police chief disobeyed directives to testify regarding the location of three men who were allegedly kidnapped by police on multiple occasions.

In order to allow Gilbert Masengeli, the acting inspector general of police, one more opportunity to appear in court before being sent to jail, the presiding judge has also deferred the sentence for a period of seven days.

The Law Society of Kenya, the primary bar body in the nation, filed a petition in which it requests a court order releasing three individuals it claims were abducted by the police in August and have not been heard from since.

The three publicly backed large-scale anti-government demonstrations in June and July on social media. Human rights advocates claim that state agents kidnapped and detained incommunicado dozens of demonstration participants. The majority were later freed.

While he has mostly supported the actions of state security agencies throughout the protests, President William Ruto has pledged to investigate these allegations.

Masengeli was requested seven times by Judge Lawrence Mugambi to come in court and reveal the whereabouts of the three, but he never did.

“In the event that he does not submit himself to the Commissioner General (of prisons), the minister of interior must take all steps that are necessary and permissible in law to ensure that Gilbert Masengeli is committed to prison,” Reuters reported that Mugambi had been cited.

A request for information from police spokeswoman Resila Onyango was not immediately answered.