High Court has awarded fFormer FDC president, Col. Dr Kizza Besigye, Shs10 million in damages over being illegally dragged off a plane about three years ago.
A sitting of the High Court Civil Division presided over by Justice Musa Ssekaana yesterday ruled that Dr Besigye was embarrassed when he was grabbed from the stairs of an aeroplane on October 3, 2016.
Police officers in late 2016 dragged Dr. Besigye off a Kenya Airways plane at Entebbe Airport and whisked him off to his home in order not to have him meet with or address the crowds that had thronged the airport to welcome him back from a foreign trip.
Through his lawyers of Rwakafuuzi & Company Advocates, Besigye sued government as well as Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) over alleged illegal arrest, as well as over interfering with his freedom as they drove him through a route he hadn’t planned and didn’t want to use.
Besigye had asked court to command that government gives him Sh300 million as punitive damages, but the residing judge said he did not find any justification for the said award.
“The police ought to have arrested the plaintiff [Besigye] in a dignified manner especially at the airport which is our gateway for tourists and foreigners coming into and going out of the country. Such crude manner of arrest paints an ugly picture to the country and could also have economic consequences,” Justice Ssekaana ruled.
The justice further said: “The Police knew well in advance that they were to effect arrest of the plaintiff on arrival. They should have presented written reasons for his arrest at the airport. This would have avoided the denial made by the plaintiff of the reasons for his arrest.
Justice Ssekaana, however, observed that although Dr Besigye’s arrest was effected in a rude manner , it was justified because people had indeed gathered at the airport in order to escort the plaintiff or engage in a procession that would have paralysed economic activity along Entebbe Road.
“The risk and danger of arresting the plaintiff from a big gathering would have raised tensions in the crowd and increased the amount of violence and clashes with the police. And also basing on history of the 2011 incident when the same Highway was blocked by the supporters of the plaintiff upon his return was justified in effecting his preventive arrest,” he said.
Justice Ssekaana explained that he could not fault police for violating Dr Besigye’s right to free movement and association because he (Besigye) ought to have put in regard the requirements of the Public Order Management Act including notifying police when and the venue he wanted to meet his supporters.
However, the judge said that it is the Attorney General who is liable for the acts of the Uganda Police which violated the rights of the plaintiff adding that he should have been added as a defendant and not as a third party in the case.