20120807
AFP
A Venezuelan diplomat in Kenya was charged in court Monday with the murder of the acting ambassador, found strangled in her Nairobi home on July 27.

Dwight Sagaray, first secretary at the embassy, pleaded not guilty to the charges, read out by judge Florence Muchemi.

Sagaray was arrested a day after Olga Fonseca Gimenez, 57, the Venezuelan charge d'affaires and acting ambassador, was found dead.

The court also charged in absentia a Kenyan, Mohammed Ahmed, with murder. Police have issued a warrant for his arrest.

Sagaray was remanded in custody, pending an expected application by his lawyers to release him on bail.

Two security guards have also been charged in connection with the killing.

Neither prosecutors nor police have given any explanation of the alleged links between Sagaray, Ahmed and the two security guards.

As a diplomat, Sagaray should have been eligible for diplomatic immunity, but this was waived before his arrest, Kenyan officials have said.