MP Zaake drags government to court for torturing him during arrest

Mityana Municipality Member of Parliament, Francis Zaake has dragged government to court for torturing him and stealing his money totaling to sh15 million during his arrest last month.

Zaake was arrested on April 19 from his home at Buswabulongo in Mityana municipality for distributing Covid-19 relief food contrary to the presidential directive that banned the same for fear of spreading the deadly virus.

In his affidavit, the legislator says on the fateful day he was inhumanely arrested by a team of police officers and the military led by the Mityana DPC, Alex Mwine and Wamala RPC Bob Kagarura who jumped over his fence into his compound before grabbing him by the waistline to a nearby vehicle.

“A warrantless search was conducted at the applicant’s home by the respondents or their subordinates and officers during which some of the applicant’s property was either lost or destroyed during the process,” the court documents read.

“The applicant was later held incommunicado, tortured and detained without trial for 10 days until April,29 at several places including Mityana police station at UPDF’s Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence headquarters in Mbuya, at Police’s Special Investigations Unit headquarters in Kireka, at Iran-Uganda friendship hospital in Naguru and at Kiruddu hospital.”

He says that the officers fastened a rope and chain onto metallic seats above him on a patrol vehicle and suspended his body above the metallic floor as he dangled below the seats.

“After suspending me below the police truck’s behind seats, the officers drove me at a very high speed .Whenever we hit humps or potholes, my body would swing violently and hit the sides of the metallic surroundings. I eventually became numb in my legs and hands as a result of the unbearable pain,” Zaake says in his affidavit.

According to Zaake, the actions by the said officers violated his fundamental human rights, impaired his health, threatened his life, infringed his dignity and caused him severe physical and psychological pain and suffering, humiliation and loss of self-worth.

“The impugned actions or omissions of the respondents are manifestly unacceptable, demonstrably unjustifiable in a free and democratic society and specifically go beyond the permissible exercise of the respondent’s enforcement authority,” the court documents read.

Request

In his suit, MP zaake wants court to declare that the actions of the security officers were intentional and violated his right.

“The applicant wants a declaration that the intentional infliction of severe pain and suffering during his arrest and detention by the respondents  or their subordinates or officers through actions or omissions including punching, kicking and pepper spraying as well as tying and forcing him to assume a fixed and stressful body position while denying him access to medication threatened his life and constituted a threat to his protection of the right to life enshrined in article 20(2) and 22 of the 1995 constitution,” the court documents say.

Zaake also wants court to declare that the actions of the police officers and military of holding him incommunicado for 10 days in several places not authorised for detention by law and without allowing him access to medical treatment of his choice.

He also wants court to order the respondents to compensate him with special, general, aggravated and punitive damages for their actions.

“Court should issue an order permanently staying any and all criminal proceedings arising against the applicant in connection with the applicant’s impugned arrest and torture by the respondents and his subordinates.”

In the suit, the Attorney General, Bob Kagarura, the Wamala Regional Police Commander, Alex Mwiine, the Mityana DPC, Elly Womanya, the SIU commandant, Musa Walugembe, the officer in charge of SIU, Hamdani Twesigye, Haruna Mulungi Nsamba and Maj.Gen.Abel Kandiho, the CMI chief have been listed as respondents.