Travesty of persecuting Nicholas Opiyo

Many of us were riled when State agents violently kidnapped our compatriot Nicholas Opiyo last December. 

For those who have encountered Nic [as he is fondly called] and benefited from his generous spirit, we felt both angry and deeply devastated. Angry at the unfairness and unwarranted kidnap-style arrest, devastated that he was now a victim of the very State excesses and abuses he has dedicated his professional life to working against. 

The manner of his arrest was nefarious, the goal of arresting him was even more diabolic. Picking from an old trick of repressive use of the law, the rulers kept him away from his family and stripped him of his freedom at the most celebrated time of the year – Christmas. 

This was deliberate and calculated. It was intended to inflict maximum psychological and emotional pain at the most important time of the year. It was to break his back and dampen his spirit.

Nic is as law-abiding as you can find, only that the rule of law in Uganda is now largely a mirage to be used conveniently and abused shamelessly. He is by far one of the most public-spirited Ugandans of our generation, deeply committed to the common good and fearless in the pursuit of justice for anyone who seeks his help.
 
This is by no means to suggest that he is infallible or cannot offend the law. No one is. Like any other citizen, he may run afoul of the law, intentionally or inadvertently, by violating rules, regulations and requirements that could well put him in legal jeopardy. If he did, he would likely walk himself to the police and courts without the necessity of a dramatised arrest.

But his arrest was not really about prosecuting him, it was to persecute him. It is not about following the law, but using it as a weapon of repression. The case is currently in court, however, the ultimate goal is likely to be less about successful prosecution and more about effective persecution. 

This is nothing new, of course. If you have followed Ugandan politics and the political uses of the law over the past few decades, it has long been standard practice to use the law and courts to beat back prominent critics of our rulers. 

It used to be common practice for senior editors and journalists to be summoned to the police on Friday ostensibly to record statements and be interrogated. The immediate goal was to get them spend the weekend in detention! So many arrests but almost no successful prosecution. 

In sheer professional misconduct, the Uganda Police Force, obviously at the direction of the real rulers and wielders of power, perennially engage in arresting people before conducting investigation. 
In doing so, they can detain you illegally on the pretext of needing time to investigate. In the meantime, your freedom is taken away and you suffer all the pangs of life in dingy, decrepit and dangerously dirty police cells. 

And when cases go to court, the arrested ‘suspects’ are remanded ‘as investigations are not yet complete.’
I suspect that from the outset, Nic was not in the least bothered by the move to detain and imprison him, knowing that he is innocent or if he had done anything wrong, he would willfully subject himself to the full due process of the law. 

He also knows that as a prominent lawyer and human rights defender of international repute, he holds a privileged position and has access to vast resources and support that are simply unavailable to the majority of Ugandan victims of a system of misrule. 
It is for the latter that we need to spare a thought, to think about the countless Ugandans languishing in police cells and prisons either on flimsy criminal charges or outright political ‘crimes.’ 

They cannot get a day in court nor can they receive legal services in a decayed system. Their lives are destroyed by illegal detention, emotional and physical torture at the hands of State agents, who instead should be in detention along with the masters from whom they take orders.
 
The rulers presiding over political persecution of citizens, and their agents, are the real culprits who should be facing prosecution. Yet, quite ironically, it is precisely these State agents and members of the ruling class who would be the very suspects that Nic Opiyo will step forward to forcefully represent in court and defend their freedoms!

Mr Khisa is assistant professor at North Carolina State University (USA).
[email protected]