Life in jail for soldier over killing November 18/19 riots victims

The UPDF First Division court martial yesterday convicted two soldiers, one a Lance Corporal and the other a private,  for killing three persons in operations to quell the November 2020 riots in Kampala.

The trial, conviction and sentencing of the accused surprisingly happened within the enclosure of the UPDF First Division headquarters in Kakiri, Wakiso District,  without the knowledge of the families, who for a year now, have pursued justice for their loved in vain.

L/Cpl Augustine Mugisha was convicted on his own plea of guilt for killing a Local Defence Unit member Hussein Ssegona and mechanic Grace Walungama in Nansana Municipality. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Autopsy report tendered in court showed that the two victims took bullets to their heads.
“The shooting on the head was not the shooting to disable, but shooting to kill and he (L/Cpl Mugisha) killed both of them to kill evidence because they (the deceased) were friends,” prosecutor Capt Paul Rwabwogo submitted.

He also argued that that LDU Mustafa Ssali, while deployed at Wandegeya Police Division, on November 18, 2020 shot dead a one Ibrahim Kirevu Mutaasa with a malice aforethought.
Ssali pleaded guilty and was upon conviction sentenced to 35 years in jail.

“Number AX017001 LDU Mustafa Ssali, you are charged with murder, contrary to Section 188 of the Penal Code Act. This court based on the evidence presented before it is hereby sentencing you to 35 years in a government prison,” court chairman, Col Sam Mugenyi, said.

Prosecution proved that Ssali shot Ibrahim Kirevu Mutaasa, who had been arrested as a suspected rioter, dead as he was being pushed into a cell at Wandegeya Police Division.

Both convicts have up to 14 days each to appeal the verdict.

Up to 54 people were killed, with a police investigation revealing 34 of them by “stray bullets”, when security forces fanned out onto Kampala streets and neighbourhoods with assault rifles to stop the November 18 to 20 civilian disturbances.

The violent protests marked by road blockades, broad day robberies, destruction of property and targeting of ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party supporters, was triggered by the arrest in Luuka District of then presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine.

Yesterday’s judgement to which journalists were invited, according to Col Mugenyi, the Division court martial chairman, was the culmination of a trial that began in January 2021.

The widely publicised outcome, which was a marked departure from other closed military court sessions and judgments, came a day after the United States sanctioned Chief of Military Intelligence, Maj Gen Abel Kandiho, for, among other things, superintending a spy agency that allegedly tortured and killed government opponents and protestors in the run up to the January vote.

In interviews last night, the families and relatives of the trio over whose death the army court sentenced two convicts to life and 35-year imprisonment, said they were kept in the dark about the trial.

Ms Zahara Namyalo, the wife of late Ibrahim Mutaasa, said that no one from the government informed her and the family that the killers of her husband was being prosecuted.

“Actually, I am surprised that there was a case going on. The 35-year jail sentence is light. I am going to speak to my lawyers for further steps,” she said.

The court was chaired by Col Mugenyi Sam and Maj Gideon Makanzu the judge advocate while Ms Miriam Kesiime was defence attorney for the accused.