Michael Olake and Morris Abak petitioned the tribunal after allegedly being arrested, brutally beaten, and severely tortured by Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) and Uganda Police Force (UPF) who had accused them of having a gun.
The Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) Tribunal has awarded 15 million Shillings to a
man who was tortured by joint security forces over alleged possession of a firearm.
Michael Olake and Morris Abak petitioned the tribunal
after being arrested, brutally beaten, and severely tortured by
Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) and Uganda Police Force (UPF) who had
accused them of having a gun.
However, during the hearing, the tribunal was satisfied that
Olake had proved that UPDF soldiers from the Special Investigations
Branch at the 4th Infantry Division, arrested, brutally beaten and caused severe pain
and suffering to him. However, they dismissed Abak’s claim calling it fake and
theatrical as read by Commissioner Crispin Kaheru.
//Cue in: “Their actions constitute…
Cue out: … entitled to compensation.”//
“Olake was severely beaten with sticks all over the body. He
was hit with a gun butt on the head and suffered a wound yet the head is one of
the most delicate parts of the body. Severe damage to the head can be fatal.”
He added.
It was alleged that on the night of 21st September 2009, there was a joint Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) and Uganda Police Force
(UPF) operation to recover guns in the hands of unauthorized people. Abak and
Olake testified that they had been falsely accused of illegal possession of
guns.
Although the UPDF carried out a thorough search of their
homes, no guns were recovered. However, during the search, they
were interrogated and severely beaten by UPDF soldiers who demanded that they
produce the said guns.
The duo were then arrested and taken by the UPDF soldiers to
Agwata Police Post where they were briefly held and beaten again before being
set free without any formal charge brought against them.
During the hearing, State witnesses Corporal Fred Okwany and
Special Police Constable Sirino Apunyo who were deployed to accompany the
soldiers on the operation to recover guns testified that neither Abak nor Olake
were ever tortured or physically hurt in any way.
Okwany who was the officer in charge of Agwata Police Post, however, informed the tribunal that upon seeing Olake and Abak at the police
post, he declined to have them detained there even though they were ok and
unharmed.
However, the tribunal described this testimony as
diversionary and misleading. “We are all aware that a suspect of a crime can be
detained at any police station or police post in Uganda, pending transfer to
another police facility where she or he is required.”
Adding “We tend to agree that indeed the actual reason
Corporal Okwany feared to detain Olake in an Agwata Police Post was the poor
condition he was in and did not want to carry the cross for the UPDF soldiers.
