By Spy Uganda
The Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) have finally spoken out about the violent and inhumane arrest of men suspected to be behind the murder of fallen AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi.
Four men who have been on remand at Luzira prisons were on Wednesday afternoon brutally arrested by armed plain clothed and uniformed security operatives, shortly after they had been granted bail by the High Court Criminal Division in Kololo.
That was shortly after being discharged by the Court Registrar, Esther Nasambu on the orders of Justice Lydia Mugambe, who granted them bail several months ago.
The suspects who include; Yusuf Nyanzi, Jibril Kalyango, Joshua Kyambadde, Yusuf Mugerwa, Abdu Rashid Mbazira, Higenyi Aramaathan Noordin, Bruhan Balyejusa and Shafiq Kasujja,were arrested together with their lawyer James Mubiru who has since been charged with obstructing justice at Jinja Road Police station.
The suspects were bundled in a waiting Super Custom by security operatives, who drove them to unspecified location.
The brutal rearrest of the suspects raised public outcry about human rights abuses by armed forces in Uganda.
Four of the suspects including Abdu Rashid Mbazira, Higenyi Aramaathan Noordin, Bruhan Balyejusa and Shafiq Kasujja had earlier on been returned to Luzira prisons on grounds that they face charges of forging their National identity cards and child trafficking before Nabweru and Mukono Magistrate’s court respectively.
However, while explaining the re-arrest of the suspects who include; army Spokesperson Brig. Richard Karemire said that says the suspects were picked up by Joint Security Forces and are locked up at a gazetted facility on allegations that they are peace violators.
Karemire said “Our people deserve peace and security forces will do whatever they can within the laws established to ensure that.”
Brig. Karemire, who didn’t divulge details of where the suspects are being held and why referred our reporter to President Yoweri Museveni’s recent social media write upon security in the country, whereby the President said civilian courts shall not continue releasing people suspected of murder.
“Secondly, the political leaders must harmonize with the Courts on the issue of the fundamental concept of Justice. The NRM concept, for most of the time, is an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth. It is only in politics where we adopted reconciliation as a strategy. Part of the reason for being soft in reconciliation is that we had already punished our opponents seriously in war,” reads Museveni message in part.
Adding that “It is therefore not correct to say that those mistake- makers were not punished. They were punished in the conflict. With peace, it was in the national interest to reconcile. This is totally different from the phenomenon of Civilian Courts condoning, aiding and abetting crime by, contrary to the wishes of the country, exonerating criminals. This is promoting impunity”.
Museveni also noted the need to work on the courts most especially on how they can move quickly on the cases of murder, rape, terrorism, and making punishments to be severe, including the hanging of Killers.
Meanwhile city lawyer Denis Nyombi has viciously condemned the brutal arrest of the bailed suspects and their lawyer. In his own words, senior council Nyombi wrote thus; “I condemn in the strongest terms possible, today’s acts, as put to broad day display by the so security operatives.
This is barbaric an act. It’s insensitive a move, its demeaning a procedure , its degrading an approach , bestial a mode of effecting work, its savage a system , vicious a scheme, its fierce and ferocious, wicked and nasty, ruthless and remorseless, its merciless and villainous, its murderous and heinous, its nefarious and monstrous, its low-down and vile, its inhuman and infernal, its dark and black, its black-hearted and fiendish, its hellish and diabolical, its ghastly and horrible.
Its of little wonder that a police man on a station counter, calls a 999 number as opposed to using a radio network!!!!
It’s of little wonder that with over 20 high profile killings, before you, save for such vicious schemes of kidnaps that the media is calling rearrests, whislt they are not, the system can never with meticulous reason and evidence, prove a case beyond reasonable doubt against any accused.”
