A high court in Kenya has sentenced the country’s acting inspector general of police, Gilbert Masengeli, to six months in prison for contempt.

Justice Lawrence Mugambi, in his ruling on Friday, gave Mr Masengeli seven days to surrender himself to the commissioner-general of prisons to serve his sentence.

If the police chief failed to surrender himself, the judge directed the interior cabinet secretary, Kithure Kindiki, to ensure the imprisonment of Mr Masengeli.

The judge said, “Mr Gilbert Masengeli is sentenced to six months imprisonment, he is ordered to submit himself to the Commissioner of Kenya Prisons to ensure he is committed to a prison facility to commence serving sentence.

“The court nevertheless finds it desirable to impose this sentence as a coercive order as opposed to a punitive order. Mr Masengeli may avoid serving this sentence and, in that regard, suspend this sentencing for seven days only.”

His sentencing followed Mr Masengeli’s refusal to honour six consecutive summons to appear in court to explain the whereabouts of two brothers, Jamil and Aslam Longton, as well as an activist, Bob Njagi, who were in August, kidnapped in Kitengela.

Describing Mr Masengeli’s willful disobedience of court orders in his previous ruling as “a direct affront to the rule of law,” the judge insisted that “those who defy court orders must be held accountable, and failure to appear in court amounts to direct contempt.”

Before the sentencing, the acting police chief had filed an application praying the court to fix his sentencing for a later date, claiming that he was busy with critical matters of national security, which according to him were paramount and required his immediate attention.