Thursday, March 28News That Matters

Senior Police Offices To Sweat Plasma In Court Over MP Zaake Torture

By Our Reporter

Several top police officers, among them Wamala regional police commander Bob Kagarura and the commander of police’s dreaded Special Investigations Unit (SIU) Elly Womanya, are set to sweat plasma today as they appear before the Chief Magistrates Court of Mityana District, to answer to charges of illegal detention and torture.

This follows a private criminal prosecution against them by Mityana Municipality Member of Parliament Francis Zaake, who accuses them of torturing him after they arrested him a few months ago for distributing relief food to people affected by the COVID-19 lockdown.

The duo will appear in the dock alongside Alex Mwiine, the Mityana District police commander, Musa Walugembe, the officer-in-charge of SIU, and Twesigye Hamdan, an investigating officer at SIU.

The officers are facing similar charges with the head of the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), Abel Kandiho, in the High Court Civil Division Court.

In the magistrate’s court, Zaake filed three counts of torture, one count of disobedience of lawful orders, and one count of unreasonable detention against the police officers. He alleges that these officers tortured him through actions including punching, kicking and pepper-spraying him, as well as tying and forcing him to assume a fixed and stressful body position.

If convicted of the charges, the senior police officers who are being charged under the Anti-torture Law of 2012, could face up to 15 years in jail and dismissal from the police force, or be compelled to pay fines worth Shs7m or serve both punishment.

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