Members of Parliament from Karamoja Sub-region have vowed to ensure justice is delivered to locals who were arrested as suspected warriors abetting cattle rustling.
Last week, residents of Kotido District were left in shock after the group returned home in appalling conditions. Some of them are malnourished while others are struggling with tuberculosis infections.
The group had been in detention in Gulu District since last year.
The Jie County MP, Mr Peter Abrahams Lokii, who transported the juveniles and youth from Gulu prison, told the Daily Monitor yesterday that he cannot comprehend the state he found the suspects in.
“Some could not walk, they seem to have been starved and tortured,” he said.
“Justice is not for bias, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions asked for their release, because no single person from Acholi nor the UPDF testified against the suspects,” he added.
Mr Lokii said after the army failed to issue any implicating evidence against the suspects in Agago Magistrate’s Court, the 21 juveniles and 279 youth were transferred to Gulu prisons where he said they were illegally detained.
“We shall try all we can to secure justice for these people, we also appeal to human rights defenders to interest themselves in this case of torture,” he said.
Some relatives struggled to identify their children among the 244 who returned last week. The relatives of Lokomolo Lomiat, a juvenile who died on remand due to an alleged outbreak of tuberculosis, are also still demanding justice.
Lomiat died, Seven days before his colleagues were released on April 3.
At the height of last year’s cattle raids, the UPDF launched a campaign to restore sanity, during which villages and cattle markets were cordoned off and suspected warriors arrested in Lobanya Farming Zone in Kotido.
Mr Lokii said two other suspects are allegedly battling tuberculosis in Murchison Bay Hospital in Luzira where they were transferred three month ago.
“For Lokomolo Lomiat, we are trying to follow the issue of compensation through human rights agencies because he died in a case where he was not a criminal,” he said.
Mr Ismail Muhammad Lomwar, the MP for Kotido Municipality, told this newspaper that an inquest into the alleged deliberate starvation of these juveniles and youth should be instituted.
“We received children who could not walk and were malnourished, a sign that they were under torture and starvation,” he said.
Human rights
Mr Paul Parimoe, the officer-in-charge of Uganda Human Rights Commission office in Moroto District, said they will formally open a complaint as soon as medical officials hand them a report on the state of the juveniles and the youth.
He said when they dispatched a team to Kotido last week, the children reported tales of torture and starvation while in the Gulu remand home. They plan to dispatch a team to talk to the entire 300 of them.
Mr Frank Baine, the spokesperson of Uganda Prisons, said the juveniles were never detained in Gulu prisons.
“To the best of my knowledge, those juveniles were in Gulu remand homes, we only had elders in Gulu government prison. Mr Baine said tuberculosis ‘is no big deal,’ and can be treated.
He said Uganda prisons have been a partner in the last 10 years in trying to combat and contain TB.
Mr Frank Mugabi, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, said they dispatched a team to Gulu remand home following the ‘disturbing’ photos of the children.
He said they will share a report with the media based on their findings.
The 3rd Division Commander in Moroto, Brig Gen Joseph Balikuddembe, said the custody of the suspects is vested in the hands of Uganda prisons.
Crackdown
Mr Michael Longole, the police spokesperson for Mt Moroto region, said the arrests were done following cattle thefts in Agago District by suspected Karimojong warriors.
The chairperson for Uganda Human Rights Commission, Ms Mariam Fauzat Wangadya, said she could not tell whether it was targeted torture, or targeted starvation.
“I wouldn’t want to jump beyond myself on this matter by telling you possible remedies on the matter, until facts are established,” Ms Wangadya said.
Mr Jamson Karemani, the spokesperson for the Judiciary, said prisons can’t receive people who have not been charged in court.
“The MPs are not understanding the facts,’’ he said.
Article 24 of the Constitution provides that no person shall be subjected to any form of torture or cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment.
Karamoja Development Forum (KDF) has commissioned an ongoing inquiry into widespread torture claims by civilians against soldiers during the disarmament process last year.
