Archive searches connected with the case have led to the discovery of thousands of files from former British administrations, including some about the Mau Mau uprising, which are to be made public by the Foreign Office.
David Anderson, professor of African politics at Oxford University, who has examined some of the withheld documents, said the files proved Whitehall not only knew what was being done to Mau Mau suspects but also had a part in sanctioning their ill-treatment.
His witness statement in the case says the papers he has inspected include candid admissions of wrong-doing.
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The big question behind this hearing is who exactly is legally liable? And the government claims that boils down to who was paying for whom.
On paper, Parliament and Whitehall had no role in running the camps where torture took place because they were paid for, and staffed by, Kenya's legitimate colonial government.
But lawyers for the Kenyans argue the truth lies in previously unseen documents. They say the files expose a paper-trail from torture in Kenya to the highest reaches of Whitehall.
