NAIROBI, Kenya 

A high court in Kenya ruled Monday that four police officers and a police informant have a case to answer in the abduction and killing of a human rights lawyer in 2016. 

“I have evaluated the evidence adduced by the state. I find that the prosecution has established a prima facie case against all the accused persons. I accordingly place them on their defense,” Justice Jessie Lessit said while handing down her ruling on the murder of Willy Kimani, his client Josephat Mwenda and their taxi driver Joseph Muiruri.

Protests erupted shortly after the killings, with an angry mob burning down the police station where the three men were allegedly held before being killed.

The murders sparked demonstrations against extrajudicial killings allegedly carried out by the police.

Their bodies were discovered in a river 70 kilometers (43 miles) northeast of the capital Nairobi. The men had been tortured before being killed.

Kimani, Mwenda and Muiruri were last seen on June 23, 2016 at the Mavoko Law Court to the southeast of Nairobi when Kimani lodged a complaint against the police for allegedly shooting Mwenda in the arm during a traffic stop.