Mityana Municipality MP Francis Zaake has filed five charges against six officers he accuses of torturing him during his arrest in April.
Through his lawyer, Mr Eron Kizza, of Kizza & Mugisha Advocates, the MP filed the case yesterday at the Mityana Chief Magistrate Court.
Zaake says he was subjected to inhuman torture between April 19 and 29 when he was arrested for defying presidential orders and personally distributing relief food to his constituents during the Covid-19 lockdown.
“In addition to the civil suit for compensation that I filed in the High Court against police officers who tortured me in April, I have initiated a Private [Criminal] Prosecution against the same officers at the Chief Magistrates Court of Mityana,” Zaake said.
He opened several charges against Wamala Regional Police Commander Bob Kagarura, Mityana DPC Alex Mwine, SIU’s Hamdan Twesigye, Elly Womanya, and other officers including three counts of Torture; one count of Unreasonable Detention; and one count of Disobedience of Lawful Orders.
“Unlike the usual case where criminals are prosecuted by the State, I have decided to literally take matters into my own hands because I do not trust the same State apparatus that unleashed these criminals on me and is currently protecting them, to again be the one to investigate and prosecute them,” he said.
“I will stop at nothing to ensure that these rogues in Police Uniform are held civilly and criminally responsible for their crimes, and that they do not do to anybody else what they did to me.”