Zaake torture case adjourned to next year
Mr Zaake at a recent public rally.
What you need to know:
- "The applicant (MP Zaake), was later held incommunicado, tortured, and detained without trial for 10 days at several places including Mityana Police Station, CMI headquarters in Mbuya, and SIU headquarters in Kireka, until April 29," court documents read.
The case in which Mityana Municipality MP Francis Zaake sued top security officers over torture, has been pushed to next year.
High Court Judge Esta Nambayo also directed Zaake and the security officers to file written submissions for courts’ consideration.
“The applicant should file his submissions on October 29, respondents on November 30, and rejoinder on December 7. This case is adjourned to January 13, 2021, for mention which is to ensure that all submissions are on-court record before the ruling date is fixed,” she ruled.
On May 6, Mr Zaake through his lawyers of Kiiza & Mugisha Advocates petitioned the court seeking unspecified compensation from individual police and military officers and government.
MP Zaake individually sued; Abel Kandiiho, the CMI boss, Alex Mwiine, the Mityana DPC, Elly Womanya, SIU commandant, Twesigye Hamdani, Musa Walugembe, the officer in charge of SIU, and Haruna Mulungi Nsamba.
The legislator contends that on April 19, 2020, as he was taking a shower at his upcountry home in Mityana District, a combined security detail of police and military, jumped over his wall fence and brutally arrested him.
He says that the security detail was led by Mityana DPC Mwiine and Wamala Regional Police Commander, Mr Bob Kagarura.
Mr Zaake says that despite demanding a search warrant, the determined officers ransacked his house leading to the destruction and loss of his property before bundling him on a waiting pickup truck.
"The applicant (MP Zaake), was later held incommunicado, tortured, and detained without trial for 10 days at several places including Mityana Police Station, CMI headquarters in Mbuya, and SIU headquarters in Kireka, until April 29," court documents read.
"This caused the applicant (MP Zaake) physical and psychological pain and suffering, humiliation, loss of self-worth, and threatened his life and dignity."
Mr Zaake was arrested on allegations that he was distributing food to his electorate against a presidential directive banning gathering to minimise the spread of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic.
He now wants the court to order the respondents to; jointly and severally with him with special, general, aggravated, and punitive damages and cater for court costs.
