Bobi Wine narrates day of arrest, alleged torture: 'I was rolled in blanket and clobbered'

Featured

Singer Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine, who is currently in detention at Makindye Military barracks has opened up regarding his day of arrest and consequent torture by security personnel.

The singer who struggled to speak was carried into a waiting room by soldiers, before being sat in a chair to meet his visitors who among others included; His wife Barbara Itungo Kyagulanyi, brother Eddie Yawe, Uganda Human Rights Commission officials led by chairman Med Kaggwa as well as lawyer and Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago.

“On seeing us, the first thing he asked was if we won the Arua election. Did we win? Did we win? He begged to know of which we answered in affirmative,” Eddie Yawe narrated.

“He is in a very bad shape, the situation is dire and worrying. I managed to see him. They said they could only allow two lawyers and family members hence I was there with his wife Barbie and brother Eddie Yawe, so when we reached there, we saw how the situation looked like, it is terrible,” Lukwago lamented after the visit.

“We were taken to a particular room and he was carried in by soldiers. He was in tears, he could not talk or stand, his face was swollen and he tried to explain to us with a lot of difficulty,” Lukwago narrated.

When they were sat, the singer recounted the experience to them blow by blow, according to Med Kaggwa, and Eddie Yawe, the singer still had a clear memory on the events that preceded and proceeded his arrest.

Kyagulanyi said that on the fateful day, he had excused himself from the Arua procession, and marched to his hotel where he had been watching news. It is from the news that he learnt of the demise of his driver Yasin Kawuma, who had a bullet 'tear' through his chest while seated in his Tundra vehicle.

http://nilepost.co.ug/2018/08/17/bobi-wine-detained-in-same-wing-with-boda-boda-2010s-kitatta/

Bobi said that on hearing the news, he wanted to move out of the room, but a section of his colleagues advised him to stay locked away until the situation was manageable.

“He asked them to lock him inside the room, to restrain himself from going out, and he resumed following events via television. He said he started hearing doors being banged and broken open and after some time, it was his door they were kicking down,” Yawe said.

Bobi Wine narrates that specific officers attached to Museveni’s elite force (SFC) that he can identify if paraded, broke into the room, he put hands up…”and the first guy who opened hit me with a metal rod on the head. they wrapped me with blanket and hit me constantly.”

"They then told me, you are Bobi Wine, you thought we would never catch you?"

“They threw me on track and drove me around, I heard people speaking and I could notice it was like at a police.” He says later they threw him in a containment room, and poured on him cold cold water.

The singer says at about the same time he noticed they were injecting him with a strange substance. He was then transferred to Gulu where he was presented to court martial without knowledge.

“He was very shocked to hear us tell him he had been charged at the Court Martial,” Yawe said.

http://nilepost.co.ug/2018/08/17/arua-chaos-us-embassy-concerned-over-brutal-arrest-detention-of-mps/

According to the lawyers present at the court martial on Thursday, Bobi Wine was sub conscious when he was read charges to and detained.

The situation is bad, he can’t sit, talk or stand, when you talk to him you cant be sure he has picked what you have said. He was brought, charged and I doubt he was aware of anything,” one of his lawyers told Nile Post.

 

Reader's Comments

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST STORIES