Edwin Chiloba (Photo courtesy of Edwin Chiloba’s Instagram page)
WASHINGTON | State Department spokesperson Ned Price Jan. 9 reiterated calls for Kenyan authorities to thoroughly investigate the brutal murder of Edwin Chiloba, a prominent LGBTQ+ and intersex activist and model.
“We urge and expect the Kenyans to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into his death,” Price, who is openly gay, told the Washington Blade during his daily press briefing. “And of course if there’s anything we can do to assist, we stand ready to do that.”
Authorities in Uasin Gishu County in western Kenya on Jan. 4 found Chiloba’s body inside a metal box that had been left on the side of a road.
The Nairobi Star on Sunday reported Jackton Odhiambo has confessed to killing Chiloba because he cheated on him.
The newspaper notes authorities have arrested three other people who allegedly helped dispose of Chiloba’s body. The Nairobi Star further reported that two of Odhiambo’s friends who reportedly helped him murder Chiloba remain at-large.
“We sent his condolences to his family, to his loved ones but also to the LGBTQI+ community in Kenya during their time of mourning,” said Price on Monday. “There are so many in that community in Kenya who benefitted from his leadership, from his visibility, from his support.”
“Violence against LGBTQI+ persons — or anyone, of course — is unacceptable, but when violence stems from possible bias or stigma, it indirectly harms all members of the targeted community,” he added. “The ultimate act of intolerance has no place in free and open societies.”
Price is among those who has publicly condemned Chiloba’s murder.
Kenya is among the countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized.
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