DPP orders police probe into Bobi Wine, Zaake torture
Bobi Wine grimaces in pain when he was produced in Chief Magistrates court in Gulu on Thursday. File photo
KAMPALA- Justice Mike Chibita, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), yesterday ordered the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) of the police to probe the circumstances under which Members of Parliament Robert Kyagulanyi popularly known as Bobi Wine, and Francis Zaake were tortured.
The duo were arrested by the military following violence at the tail end of the campaigns for the recently concluded Arua Municipality by-election.
Mr Chibita said he received a letter from Uganda Law Society (ULS) urging him to take lead in investigating torture meted out on the MPs and other civilians arrested by Special Forces Command (SFC) during the fracas.
“The office of DPP unequivocally condemns all acts of torture and especially torture arising out of the instant case. Following a letter from ULS, therefore, I have asked the police to carry out investigations into allegations of torture,” Mr Chibita said.
Mr Kyagulanyi (Kyadondo East), MP Gerald Karuhanga (Ntungamo Municipality), MP Paul Mwiru (Jinja East), Arua Municipality MP-elect Kassiano Wadri, former Makindye East MP Mike Mabbike and 27 others were arrested as a result of the chaos and have since been charged with treason.
President Museveni in a message circulated on social media recently, said Mr Zaake, who is in critical condition at Lubaga Hospital, escaped from custody.
Asked on what his office would do if CID fails to apprehend the SFC soldiers, Mr Chibita said: “If police find difficulty, I expect them to write back to us and we will definitely find a way forward. You should know no person is above the law.”
