Uganda buries athlete Rebecca Cheptegei, victim of femicide

The 33-year-old marathon runner, who lived and trained in Kenya, succumbed to her serious injuries on September 5. Her partner, Kenyan Dickson Ndiema Marangach (32), also suffered severe burns and died Monday in a hospital in Kenya.

Cheptegei’s death sparked international outrage. Human rights activists denounced a new case of femicide in Kenya, where two other athletes, Agnes Tirop and Damaris Mutua, were killed and whose partners have been accused of the murders since 2021.

Relatives of the Ugandan athlete and senior officials gathered for the funeral in Bukwo, the village 380 kilometers from the capital Kampala where her family lives, on Saturday. Army officers saluted the coffin, which carried the Ugandan flag. Cheptegei was a sergeant in the Ugandan army.