Lawyer for 20k Kenyans claiming torture in 1950s says justice delayed, no UK settlement

United Kingdom solicitor Freddie Cosgrove-Gibson, left, and Celil Miller, right, from Miller and Company Advocates in Kenya, address the media in Nairobi during the press conference for Kenyan Emergency Group Litigation, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015. Cosgrove-Gibson represents some 20,000 elderly Kenyans who are suing the British government for alleged torture during the British colonial rule of the country in the 1950 ’s, and Cosgrove-Gibson said Wednesday that his clients are elderly and he is disappointed that hearings will not start until 2016. (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim) (The Associated Press)

Solicitor Freddie Cosgrove-Gibson addresses the media in Nairobi during the press conference for Kenyan Emergency Group Litigation, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015. Cosgrove-Gibson represents some 20,000 elderly Kenyans who are suing the British government for alleged torture during the British colonial rule of the country in the 1950 ’s, and Cosgrove-Gibson said Wednesday that his clients are elderly and he is disappointed that hearings will not start until 2016. (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim) (The Associated Press)

NAIROBI, Kenya – A lawyer representing 20,000 elderly Kenyans suing the British government for alleged torture in the 1950s says the U.K.'s Foreign and Commonwealth Office has shown no interest in starting negotiations for a settlement.

U.K. lawyer Freddie Cosgrove-Gibson said Wednesday that his clients are elderly and he was disappointed that justice was being delayed. Gibson, with law firm Tandem Law, says they filed the suit in 2013 and the hearing is scheduled to start May 5, 2016.

The Kenyans say they were beaten and sexually assaulted by officers acting for the British administration who were trying to suppress the "Mau Mau" rebellion, in which groups of Kenyans attacked British officials and white farmers who had settled in some of Kenya's most fertile lands during the British colonial rule of the country.