Are security officers above the law?

Kampala. Torture cases involving State security and intelligence actors are on the rise, but perpetrators mostly go scot-free, according to our review of publicly available information on major incidents.
From 2011 when police officer Gilbert Arinaitwe Bwana brutalised now four-time presidential challenger Kizza Besigye, to the November 2016 military onslaught on the Rwenzururu king’s palace and subsequent torture of incarcerated suspects and last year’s injury of Kamwenge mayor Geoffrey Byamukama, there is no evidence that the State ensured justice.

The incidents string a pattern of unpunished torture cases, with rights groups questioning if State actors are above the law, even as security agencies dismiss the cases as “isolated” and not institionalised.
Cruel and degrading treatment aimed to inflict pain is a criminal offence, according to the Prevention and Prohibition of Torture Act, 2012.

The legislation imposes personal liability on individuals who commit torture, irrespective of whether they do so in their official or private capacity.
Asked last night why perpetrators implicated in some of the country’s grotesque torture cases had not been arrested or prosecuted, Col Shaban Bantariza, the Uganda Media Centre deputy executive director, responded: “Let those involved in the acts answer; they should be able to break down the figures and see how many have been taken to court and how many have not been taken and why?”
Below are eight notable torture incidents over the last seven years for which authorities have had no accountability.

Kamwenge mayor case
In April 2017, four police officers attached to the now closed Special Operations Unit were accused of arresting and torturing Kamwenge Mayor Mr Geoffrey Byamukama beating him with batons and iron bars.
D/ASP Patrick Muramira, D/ASP Fred Tumuhairwe, No. 55612 Habib Roma and No. 67019 PPC Ben Odeke were charged in court with one count of torture contrary to section 4 of the Prevention and Prohibition of Torture Act, 2012.
They were also charged with causing grievous harm contrary to section 219 of the Penal Code Act in May 2017. In the same month, the suspects were released on bail.

In July 2018, Buganda Road Court dismissed the case due to want of prosecution after the police file on the case disappeared and witnesses failed to turn up in court.
Mr Byamukama became a poster child of torture when he was photographed at Nakasero Hospital with deep and festering wounds inflicted on him while in custody at the then Nalufenya detention facility in Jinja. He was later released following President Museveni’s intervention.
When this newspaper spoke to him on Monday, he said his “case is still in court,” unawares that it had already been dismissed. The policemen implicated in his brutalisation would later be re-arrested, but on alleged different criminal offences.

Caned Besigye fans
In July 2016, police officers were seen beating up supporters of four-time presidential candidate, Dr Kizza Besigye, at Najjanankumbi and Kalerwe in Kampala.
Mr Andrew Kaggwa, the ex-regional police commander for Kampala Metropolitan Police South, former Katwe police operations commander Patrick Muhumuza and the then Wandegeya Division Police Commander Moses Nanoka were convicted of neglect of duty.
The police court demoted them.
The deputy police spokesperson, Mr Patrick Onyango, said the officers appealed the sentence in the police appellate court and their demotion was stayed, pending a decision of the higher court.
That appeal court has for 20 months since February 2017 never sat to hear their case. And all the officers have since been redeployed.

Besigye pepper-sprayed
Assistant Superintendent of Police Gilbert Arinaitwe Bwana, who sprayed Dr Kizza Besigye with pepper that nearly blinded him at Mulago roundabout during Walk-to-Work demonstration on April 28, 2011, was investigated for brutal arrest.
In 2016, he was redeployed without being charged with any offence in a civilian or police court.
The then police spokesperson, Mr Fred Enanga, said their criminal file against ASP Arinaitwe was not sanctioned by the Director of Public Prosecutions. No reason was given.

Gulu victim
On October 4, Mr Abdulrahman Ssekyanzi, a businessman in Gulu Town, was arrested from his residence in Pece division by five police and Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) operatives on accusation of killing former Buyende District police commander Muhammad Kirumira.
He said security operatives hit him with car wheel spanners, but he was released without a charge after this newspaper reported about his abduction. No one was arrested over his torture.

Injured over Kaweesi
Twenty-two suspects accused of killing former police spokesperson Andrew Felix Kaweesi in March 2017 were tortured while in Nalufenya detention centre.
They petitioned the High Court in Kampala that last October awarded each Shs80m compensation for violation of their rights.
None of the officers suspected to have tortured them has ever been identified or tried.

Anti-Kawooya cruelty
His brutal beating and arrest last Thursday by Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence operatives rattled the country and world when a video footage of the vicious attack widely circulated on social media. Rights activists criticised the excesses as utterly cruel, inhuman and degrading while Opposition politicians drew parallels between the violence with that prevalent under past regimes.
The army swiftly arraigned five operatives before the Unit Disciplinary Court in Mbuya where they pleaded guilty to use of excessive force. They were remanded to Makindye Military Barracks, pending sentencing.

Arua stain
During the last campaign rally for Arua Municipality parliamentary by-elections on August 13, security forces brutalised residents and Members of Parliament, leaving a number paralysed. Police allege that the up to 34 suspects stoned one of President Museveni’s official vehicle, and are facing trial. Whereas the West Nile Regional Police Commander, the district police commander and the District Internal Security Officer were summarily transferred or dropped, no security personnel are being prosecuted.

Rwenzori attack wounds
In November 2016, 141 Rwenzururu Kingdom loyalists the State accused of attacking government installations were incarcerated at Nalufenya detention facility, only to appear in court in Jinja with septic wounds. The suspects said they had been tortured by police officers and soldiers while in detention.
Chief Magistrate John Francis Kaggwa ruled that allegations of torture should be investigated by government agencies, and there is no report card on the inquiries; that is if it took place in the first place.
The perpetrators of the brutality have neither been apprehended nor named.

What law says
The Prevention and Prohibition of Torture Act, 2012, defines torture as: “Any act or omission, by which severe pain or suffering whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of any person whether a public official or other person acting in an official or private capacity...”
Penalty: “A person who performs any act of torture commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for fifteen years or to a fine of [Shs7.2m].”

Torture statistics: Some 834 torture victims received rehabilitation services last year alone, according to the African Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims, which was a reduction from 1,346 cases in the previous year.
Torture by police and crime preventers: 380.
UPDF: 57
Prison warders: 43
Undefined security forces: 47
Other groups: 307
Source: ACTRTV 2017 report

Army, police response

The UPDF Deputy spokesperson Lt Col Deo Akiiki: “I think the word torture is being misused. But anyway, all our soldiers who are involved in cases of assault have been punished. Tell me which case that has happened and those involved have not been punished. I think when someone is arrested, produced in court and is sentenced, that is a punishment.”

Police spokesperson Emilian Kayima: “What I know is that we take action against those involved.”

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