Arua chaos: Three sue govt over torture

Kampala. Three people have sued government and a regional police commander for alleged torture and violation of their constitutional rights during last year’s Arua Municipality parliamentary by-election.
The complainants are Ms Night Asara Eyoru, Ms Jane Abola and Mr Shabani Atiku.
In their suit filed before Arua High Court on November 21, 2018, the trio contend that on August 13 last year, police and military officers led by the West Nile Regional Police Commander, Mr Jonathan Musinguzi, stabbed and kicked them while they were at Royal Hotel, Arua.
“The police and military acts were unprovoked, arbitrary, unlawful and a violation of the constitutional guarantees,” the court documents read in part.
“The applicants suffered injury and loss due to the respondents’ violation of the Constitution,” they add. Ms Asara, who was charged with treason following the fracas, contends that on the fateful day when Kyandondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, left the hotel, she heard gunshots.
“We immediately learnt that Bobi Wine’s vehicle had been shot at and his driver a one Kawuma killed,” Ms Asara states in her affidavit.
“Fear gripped us as we all feared for our lives. I heard Musinguzi, whose voice I knew being a councillor in Arua, order that everybody in the hotel should be shot because they were there on a mission,” she added.

In pain
Ms Asara states that she now suffers from stomach and chest pains, headache and has a dislocated hip.
The petitioners want court to, among other things, order for their compensation.
On August 13 several people were arrested for allegedly pelting stones at one of President Museveni’s motorcade, destroying its rear windshield.
The other people who were seriously injured were Mityana Municipality MP Francis Zaake and Mr Kyagulanyi who sought specialised treatment abroad.