Controversial blogger Cyprian Nyakundi and his co-accused Emmanuel Ongera were on Friday released on a cash bail of Sh 300,000 each.
The two were charged over an Sh17.5 million extortion attempt, charges they denied.
The two were accused of attempting to extort Sh17.5 million from Victoria Commercial Bank CEO, Yogesh Pattni so they can pull down libelous articles from Mr Nyakundi’s blog.
The suspects were arrested at Westgate Mall in Nairobi on Tuesday by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
The court was told that the Sh 1 million was down payment for Sh 17.5 million the two had demanded from Pattni to pull down a series of libellous articles posted on Nyakundi’s blog on diverse dates between Tuesday, September 10, 2019, and Wednesday, January 15.
The magistrate heard that Mr Pattni obtained orders blocking Mr Nyakundi from publishing the defamatory articles.
It was said that Mr Nyakundi, however, ignored the order and continued posting the articles.
Although the prosecution did not oppose the release of the two on bond, the complainant through lawyer Kamau Chege cited the incident where he disobeyed the court orders and went ahead to publish the article.
“The accused is notorious for disobeying court orders. Your honour, whenever we try to serve him it is difficult. Nyakundi is hard to get hold of hence he should be denied bail. We served him with the court order electronically,” Chege argued.
Defense lawyers Cliff Ombeta and Dunstan Omari urged the court to overrule the complaint and release the accused.
The case will be mentioned on February 7.
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