Investigate torture cases in Northern Uganda immediately—demands human rights defenders

Gulu 18, August 2021: Human Rights Focus and the African Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims (ACTRTV) say Police and Uganda People’s Defense Forces should investigate torture cases within Northern Uganda, now.

Addressing Journalists at Northern Uganda Media Centre (NUMEC) in Gulu city on Tuesday, Francis Odonyoo who is the Executive Director Human Rights Focus disclosed that over 80 percent of torture cases that the organization has received for the past six years involve the security personnel in the army, police and the Uganda Prison Services.

Odonyoo added that the army authorities and the Aswa region police should start the investigations on the torture and death of one Emmanuel Olanya who was tortured by UPDF soldiers.

He noted that on the 21 June 2021, a serving UPDF soldier allegedly acting on the command of Lieutenant Colonel Onekalit Hillary tortured Olanya Emmanuel. The deceased was suspected to have stolen batteries from Bardege division in Gulu city. They left him unconscious and died.

Apart from Olanya, Brian Opiyo, now a deceased, also suffered and died because of torture in the hands of the security team in Gulu.

“The silence of police to investigate their own colleagues involved in torture acts and this included the torture of Brian Opiyo who was arrested by police when he was from work at Penongi Labedo in Gulu city,” says Odonyoo.

He further blamed the police for hiding the facts about the cause Opiyo’s death who was by then at Gulu prison, saying the postmortem report says Opiyo died of Hepatitis and another test done by a medic from the Human Rights Focus indicated that Opiyo died because of torture.

“The cause of death of Opiyo also shows a lack of medical ethics within the police system,” Odonyoo added.

An eyewitness and an inmate, who prefer anonymity, disclosed that Opiyo was tortured by fellow inmates and police as a prison warden watches the torture movie.

“I show them torturing Opiyo as the prison warden looks on without doing anything,” he added.

Ms Agnes, the mother of the deceased, noted that the death of his son and the denial by the prisons and police that Opiyo was unlawfully tortured to death hurt her so much.

“Opiyo has left me with a lot of burden to look after his daughter, yet he was the only one who was providing for the family,” she reveals.

Francis Odonyoo, has therefore, called upon the public to stand against the vice of torture, adding that the police and the army have to treat all people as equal before the law.

He further noted that the worse prison center is Kineni Government prison, where most torture cases on inmates are reported.

Alfred Oketayot, the Program Manager, African Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims has called upon the general public to condemn torture acts, and applauded the President Museveni for his stake on torture by security.

Last week, Museveni slammed security forces that torture civilians and warned them to “stop it”.

In the past six years, the Human Rights Focus has received 21 torture cases. These cases are now in courts and over 80 percent are inflicted by the security.