|
Top Stories
|
|
Written by Richard M. Kavuma
|
|
Sunday, 18 October 2009 16:40 |
 Brigadier’s job on the line.
Brig. James Mugira, the Chief of Military Intelligence, is in danger of losing his job and being banned from holding any public office, if he loses a High Court case that begins today.
In this landmark case, Hoima Town Council LC-III Chairman, Francis Atugonza, wants court to punish Mugira and four other Army officers for allegedly torturing him. In April this year, Atugonza was arrested, detained and allegedly tortured by soldiers attached to the Joint Anti-Terrorism Taskforce (JATT) where Mugira is the overall coordinator.
JATT comprises of soldiers from CMI and intelligence operatives from the internal and external security organisations, and the Police. Atugonza filed Miscellaneous Cause Number 118 of 2009 at the Kampala High Court two months ago, through his lawyers Nyanzi, Kiboneka and Mbabazi Advocates. The case is against Mugira, Maj. Benson Monday, Maj. Abel Kandiho, Lt. C.K. Assiimwe and Lt. Alex B. Tumushabe in their personal capacities, plus the Attorney General.
The Observer has learnt that the government has asked Justice Yorokamu Bamwine’s court to lock the public and the press out of the proceedings. The government argues that the proceedings might reveal details that will compromise national security. But critics say this is futile because the judgment will not be delivered “in camera” but in full view of the public.
In addition to praying court to declare that his detention and torture violated his rights as enshrined in Chapter Four of the Constitution, Atugonza wants court to declare that “the respondents are unfit to hold offices as members of the UPDF and/or any public office or state institution, agency or organ of Uganda.”
Atugonza, the Secretary for Trade and Industry in the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), is also seeking “an injunction restraining, stopping, prohibiting and forbidding the respondents from continuing to act in the offices they currently occupy, or as members of the UPDF or any public office.”
If this case succeeds, as lawyer Mohammed Mbabazi believes it will, Mugira and the other soldiers would not only lose their jobs, they would also be barred from taking up other public appointments in future.
The case is particularly important in the campaign against torture by state security organs because it targets individual soldiers who commit heinous crimes under the guise of interrogating suspects.
For years now, soldiers of the CMI and JATT have been torturing and in some cases killing Ugandans with brutality reminiscent of the dark days of Idi Amin. And no one ever raised a finger at them. Instead, the closest some victims of this torture have come to justice is a few pronouncements by the Uganda Human Rights Commission that the government, represented by the Attorney General, should pay the victims a few million shillings in compensation. Even then, the government takes years to pay; it now owes torture victims Shs 2 billion.
Human rights activists have long warned that this vicarious version of justice was not addressing the problem. Without fear of any punishment, CMI and JATT operatives have continued torturing suspects with heart-wrenching brutality. And if Atugonza’s testimony is anything to go by, President Museveni’s security organs seem to enjoy torturing their victims.
Kololo torture house
In his affidavit in support of the case, Atugonza detailed how he was arrested from Tal Cottages in Lubaga, beaten up and taken to a house on Plot 54 Kololo Hill Lane, which serves as JATT’s headquarters. The house, according to court documents, is adjacent to the Embassy of Denmark.
“Lt. Assiimwe spat in my face and said that I was a cockroach and that I could be done away with a little fumigation,” Atugonza says in the affidavit. “Lt. Assiimwe then repeatedly poured cold water in my face and as I tried to wipe my face and eyes, I was hit with a heavy object an inch from my right eye upon which I fell down with blood gushing out”.
After four days in the Kololo torture house, Atugonza was charged with obtaining money by false pretence at Mwanga II Road Court and was released on bail. Speaking about his official’s detention and torture, FDC President Kizza Besigye said the party would sue individuals like Security Minister Amama Mbabazi. But with legal opinion divided on how easy it would be to convict Mbabazi, it is not surprising that the minister is not among the respondents. But lawyer Mohammed Mbabazi says Mugira and company should take personal responsibility for the acts of torture committed under their watch.
Chapter 208 of the Constitution requires the Army to be professional and disciplined. The lawyer is expected to argue that JATT officers violated this provision and other relevant laws and should be punished to avoid impunity.
“If the President as commander-in-chief can remove pips [from a disgraced Police officer], why can’t the Constitution remove pips?” Mbabazi told The Observer last week.
Mugira responds
The Observer has seen an affidavit sworn by Mugira on September 25, in which he opposes Atugonza’s application. He says he has never met Atugonza and that on April 11, 2009, when the complainant was arrested, he (Mugira) was out of Uganda.
“CMI, which I am in charge of, is an intelligence unit of the UPDF and does not use torture as a method of work,” Mugira swears, repeating a well rehearsed line that however contradicts testimonies of torture victims.
“I have never given any directives or been involved in any operation or matter to do with the applicant (Atugonza)”.
Mugira further quotes his lawyers, Nangwala, Rezida and Company Advocates, as having told him that he cannot be liable for a matter that he has “no personal connection to”.
Mugira, a lawyer by training, says he has no reason to believe Atugonza’s accusations because all JATT operations are carried out according to the organ’s standard operating procedures (SOPs), which were issued by the late Noble Mayombo on November 20, 2002. According to a copy of SOPs seen by The Observer, JATT is only supposed to detain terrorism suspects unless otherwise approved by the overall operations commander – in this case Mugira.
Section 4d of the SOPs reads: “No suspect shall be subjected to any form of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, while undergoing interrogation or any form of questioning. Any infringement of this rule shall strictly lead to individual criminal liability and punishment of the perpetrator.”
Welcome move
Atugonza’s court application is being greeted by activists as a more potent weapon against torture. A Human Rights Watch activist, for instance, says it should help check the impunity of intelligence operatives.
The chairman of the Uganda Human Rights Commission, Meddie Kaggwa, said the commission was going to follow the case closely as it could set some precedents that could be useful to the commission’s tribunals. He supported the principle of holding individuals answerable for acts of torture even if they perpetrated these acts in the service of state agencies.
This, he said, was the reason the commission and other stakeholders drafted the anti-torture bill, which they hope will be tabled in Parliament soon.
“You will have to think twice before doing something (read torture) if you know that some one can bring action against you as an individual,” Kaggwa said at the weekend.
One challenge for lawyer Mbabazi will be to convince Justice Yorokamu Bamwine to grant the declarations against Mugira and company, especially since the anti-torture law has not yet been enacted. But according to Uganda Law Society President, Bruce Kyerere, the application has a 60% chance of succeeding. “It depends on what evidence you bring,” Kyerere said, hailing Atugonza’s court application as a step in the right direction.
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
|
|
Last Updated on Sunday, 18 October 2009 17:13 |
|
|
|
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form