Kenya bishop suspects 'tortured'

Bishop Locati was shot by three gunmen

A Kenyan judge has ordered doctors to investigate allegations that police tortured six people suspected of killing a Roman Catholic bishop.

The six, who include a Catholic priest, have denied killing Italian-born Bishop Luigi Locati, who was shot in July.

A Kenyan prosecutor, speaking on behalf of the police, denied the allegations.

Lawyers for the suspects told the judge they had been beaten, denied food and water, suspended upside down and burned with cigarettes.

One was said to have been kept with dead bodies in a mortuary.

Bishop Luigi Locati, who was 76, had spent most of his working life in Kenya and thousands of people - including Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Vatican envoys - attended his funeral.

After initially linking his death to an ethnic feud, police now allege Bishop Locati was killed in a struggle for control of church funds.