Four Kenyans, three men and one woman, plan to take legal action against the British government over alleged colonial-era atrocities. Britain's High Court ruled Thursday that the elderly Kenyans can sue over alleged torture by British authorities committed during the Mau Mau uprising in the 1950s.
包括三名男子和一名女子在内的四名肯尼亚人，计划就所称的殖民时代的暴行对英国政府采取法律行动。英国高等法院星期四裁定说，这些年迈的肯尼亚人可以就所称的英国当局在1950年代茅茅起义期间对他们的虐待行为进行起诉。
It was a victory on Thursday for four Kenyans who won the right to sue the British government, but the ruling is only the beginning.
对于这四名肯尼亚人来说，他们星期四赢得了一场胜利，获得了起诉英国政府的权利。但是这项裁决仅仅是一个开始。
A judge ruled that the Kenyans have an "arguable case" and that a full trial will be needed to find out the facts.
一名法官裁定说，这些肯尼亚人提出一个“可以证实的案件”，需要进行一场彻底的审理来查明真相。
But the judge emphasized that his ruling did not mean there had been systematic torture or that the British government is liable.
但是这名法官同时强调说，他的裁决并不意味着当年存在有计划的虐待行为，也不意味着英国政府就负有责任。
Paolo Nzili, 83, is one of the claimants. Nzili says he was castrated, humiliated, beaten, and now has no family of his own. He says he's bitter, but happy that the High Court has accepted the case so that the four can sue for compensation.
今年83岁的保罗·恩兹利是提出指控的人士之一。他说，他当年被阉割，受到羞辱和殴打，导致现在没有自己的家庭。这让他的一生备受煎熬。为此，他需要金钱补偿。
Money is what he needs, he says, to compensate for the fact that he's never had a family - something he says has tormented him all his life.
The four elderly Kenyans say they were systematically tortured in camps set up in the 1950s to crush the Mau Mau rebellion against British rule.
The British Foreign Office says it is not responsible. It says responsibility for abuse was transferred to Kenya at independence in 1963.
英国外交部表示对此不负有责任。他们说，施虐的责任在1963年肯尼亚独立之后，就转给了肯尼亚当局。
"We are absolutely delighted and we are happy that the verdict came out the way it came, because for us that's a real opportunity, a real opportunity for these men and women who suffered despicable acts of torture, to be heard, and we are calling upon the British government to really move with speed now and stop invoking other technicalities like limitations, and really settle this case," said George Morara, the Program Officer at the Kenya Human Rights Commission.
肯尼亚人权委员会的项目官员乔治·莫拉拉说：“我们绝对感到欣喜，我们很高兴能够如愿获悉这项判决，因为对我们来说，这是一次真正的机会。对于那些遭受了卑劣折磨行径的男女来说，这是让他们的心声被世人所知的一次真正的机会。我们呼吁英国政府现在赶紧采取行动，不要寻求一些诸如采取限制等技术性阻挠手段，真心实意地处理案件。”
The four claimants are in their 70s and 80s. Another claimant died in 2009.
目前这四名寻求赔偿者都已经是70到80岁的高龄老人，另外一名寻求赔偿者已经在2009年去世。 |