Police investigating the death of an LGBTQ+ rights campaigner whose body was discovered stuffed in a metal trunk have arrested a suspect, they said.
Edwin Chiloba, a 25-year-old fashion designer and model, was found dead by the road earlier this week about 40km (25 miles) outside the Rift Valley town of Eldoret, media reports said.
“We have a suspect in custody and we are investigating his role in this murder,” said Peter Kimulwo, the head of investigations at the directorate of criminal investigations (DCI) office in Eldoret.
“We are holding him as a prime suspect because there are leads pointing to him and others, but all these are subject to conclusive investigations,” he told reporters.
Kimulwo said the suspect was believed to have been a longtime friend of the victim, adding that police were also looking for people seen loading a metal container into a car at Chiloba’s home.
“He died a painful death,” an unidentified police officer based in Eldoret told the media.
The kenyahuman rights commission urged police “to conduct swift investigations and ensure the killers are apprehended and prosecuted”.
“It is truly worrisome that we continue to witness escalation in violence targeting LGBTQ+ Kenyans,” it said in a statement. “Every day, the human rights of LGBTQ+ persons are being violated with little consequence for perpetrators.”
Members of the LGBTQ community often face harassment and physical attacks in the predominantly conservative Christian nation. Homosexuality is taboo in Kenya and across much of Africa and gay people often face discrimination or persecution.