UHRC warns against “non-existent” torture allegations as it releases report on missing NUP supporters

The Uganda Human Rights Commission has released a report into their investigation on the missing National Unity Supporters alleged to have been abducted by security organs.

Addressing journalists on Tuesday, UHRC chairperson, Mariam Wangadya said between November 2022 and April, 2023, they received requests from the NUP Secretary General asking them to investigate the disappearance of 30 of their supporters, noting that investigations have indicated that whereas 12 have been released and returned home, 18 are still missing.

“Our findings have established that 12 of the persons who were reported missing were arrested on suspicion of having committed several offenses and were either released on police bond or court bail. Some said they were arrested by UPDF and others said unknown people while one said he was arrested by masked men,” Wangadya said.

According to officials of the Uganda Human Rights Commission, some of the alleged missing NUP members were arrested on charges of terrorism, vandalism of property among others.

18 still missing

The report however indicated that the whereabouts of 18 NUP supporters are still not clear.

Wangadya was however quick to note that the commission cant conclude whether they were arrested by security agencies or not since details about them were not provided by the National Unity Platform whereas some of their relatives effused to cooperate.

She warned NUP against declaring that these supporters were kidnapped by security agencies since there is no evidence to prove this.

“Mr. Rubongoya( NUP Secretary General) didn’t avail us national identity card number for about three quarters of the alleged  victims and is therefore difficult for us to establish whether these so called victims ever existed,” Wangadya said.

 The UHRC also warned NUP against claims of torture of their supporters without accompanying evidence.

“It is important to note that NUP has previously reported complaints to the commission of alleged torture of its supporters. However, the said supporters have either not been co-operative by providing more evidence to corroborate their allegations  or have changed the narrative of their allegations to one that is very different from the one they reported to the commission,” Wangadya said.

She noted that other alleged torture victims turned out to be victims of road accidents.

 “This trend of incidents has led the commission to question the credibility of the complainants referred to it.”

Commenting about the report, the NUP Secretary General, Lewis Rubongoya said all indicators point to their supporters being detained beyond 48 hours prescribed within the law.

 “As you notice all these persons without exception were in detention for close to or over a month- much longer than the prescribed 48 hours! The Commission does not condemn or even say anything about this blatant violation of citizens' rights,” Rubongoya said.

The NUP Secretary General said the report by the Uganda Human Rights Commission admits there are ungazetted detention places where some of their supporters were detained from.

“Finally, these abductions have been ongoing and the list of missing persons has since grown beyond the 18 listed as still missing. You would expect much more from a rights body, but this is Uganda. We shall stop at nothing in our quest for justice and accountability.”