Ex-convicts seek remedies for rights abuses

Cases of ex-convicts suing for compensation over violation of rights have dominated hearings at a Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) tribunal in Arua City.

The tribunal headed by the commission chairperson, Ms Mariam Wangadya, and assisted by Commissioner Lamex Omara Apitta, has been hearing complaints filed against the Attorney General in the region since 2015.

The commission was supposed to hear 16 complaints but 10 were resolved while six have been adjourned for further hearing.

“As we have observed today, the nature of the complainants themselves is quite troubling. The complainants who have appeared before us claiming violation of their rights to personal liberty are hard core criminals, some of them are convicted defilers, another one is a rapist,” Ms Wangadya said last Wednesday.

She added: “I have been dismissing them, it is my argument that the provisions of the Article 23 (4) b of the Constitution were intended to protect innocent citizens from arbitrary arrests and wrongful detentions. They were not meant to sanitise defilers and rapists and turn them into victims of alleged human rights violations at the expense of actual victims of their crimes.”

In one of the cases, police in Pakwach rescued Mr Peter Ocakacon,  a suspect  from a mob who survived lynching.

But his house was set ablaze by the same mob.  The police detained the suspect for 12 days pending investigations.

He was later convicted and served a four-year jail term. Upon release from jail, he filed a complaint at the commission against the police for detaining him for more than 48 hours.

While another ex-convict, who was convicted for defiling his niece after serving a four-year sentence, also filed a complaint at the commission against the Attorney General for detaining him for more than 48 hours. 

However, the UHRC tribunal members wondered why the ex-convicts were demanding for compensation from police and yet they would have been lynched had police not rescued them from angry mobs.

But one of the complainants argued that he would have done any productive work if he had been released on police bond.

List of ex-convicts

The ex-convicts demanding remedies are:

• Mr Issa Dralega, who was convicted for defiling his niece. He spent four years in jail after his niece failed to testify in court
• Mr Michael Enzama, who was convicted of rape
• Mr Edward Tiondi. He spent four years in jail over theft.
• Mr Tiondi was initially sentenced to a six-year jail term