Kampala, Uganda | By Michael Wandati | The High Court in Kampala has ruled that the government, along with eight soldiers, must compensate two journalists who were assaulted four years ago while covering a National Unity Platform (NUP) event led by Robert Kyagulanyi. The journalists, Timothy Murungi and Henry Sekanjako of New Vision, will each receive 75 million Ugandan Shillings as reparations.
The assault occurred as the journalists were reporting on Kyagulanyi’s petition to the United Nations Human Rights Office. The soldiers implicated in the case are Lt. Col. Napoleon Namanya, Capt. Jessy Odwenyi, L/Cpl Kasim Zirimenya, Cpl Justine Nimusiima, Pte Peter Wasswa, Pte Tsame Imran, Pte Victoria Kisakye, and Pte Isaac Opio.
The court ruled that the soldiers’ actions violated fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution, including the right to dignity, protection from torture and inhuman treatment, and the right to freedom of the press.
Presiding over the case, Civil Division Judge Boniface Wamala concluded that the assault constituted a grave breach of the journalists’ constitutional rights. The judgment underscores the importance of safeguarding press freedoms and holding violators accountable.
“The rights of the journalists to freedom of the press and the media provided for under Article 29(1)(a) of the Constitution were violated by respondents,” Judge Wamala stated. The court also ordered the respondents to cover the journalists’ legal costs.
The journalists recounted the events of February 17, 2021, when they were deployed to cover Kyagulanyi’s visit to the UN Human Rights Office to present a petition about the abductions and disappearances of his supporters. Upon arriving, they found a police roadblock preventing them from proceeding. Murungi stated that after he began taking photos, “a military police car arrived and officers of the UPDF, including some of the respondents, jumped off the car and started assaulting the individuals who were at the cut-off point, including him and the other journalists.”
“Lt. Col. Napoleon Namanya, who was the commander of the officers, issued instructions to the soldiers to beat him and the other journalists,” Murungi further testified. He and Sekanjako detailed how they were chased down, beaten with batons, and sprayed with tear gas, sustaining serious injuries. “We fled the scene bleeding profusely,” they said, adding that they later sought treatment for their injuries and endured ongoing trauma, including nightmares and insomnia.
The journalists argued that the UPDF soldiers’ actions were “inhuman, cruel, and degrading,” asking the court to intervene and prevent further abuses. They provided photographic evidence of their injuries and medical records.
“From the above evidence, it has been established that security officers…intentionally inflicted physical pain upon the 2nd and 3rd applicants (Murungi and Sekanjako). It is ascertainable…that the purpose of infliction of such pain was to intimidate or coerce the said applicants or any other persons to refrain from doing coverage of the occasion taking place at the UN Human Rights Office,” Justice Wamala remarked.
The Attorney General and the soldiers argued that Murungi lacked the authority to represent other affected journalists and claimed that there was no systematic assault on journalists. Col. Moses Wandera, Deputy Chief of Legal Services for the UPDF, stated, “The application was defective on the basis that Murungi lacked a representative order or a formal resolution to institute the suit on behalf of other individuals.” However, Justice Wamala dismissed these arguments, noting that the journalists had provided unchallenged evidence, including photos and medical records, proving their assault.
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Wamala clarified that the Uganda Journalists Association (UJA) had the authority to bring an action on behalf of its members, emphasizing, “The question of authority to bring the action could only arise if there was an internal disagreement over the matter; that is if the filing was contested by one or some of the members of the association.”
While the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) was initially named in the suit, Justice Wamala exonerated him, explaining that the journalists failed to demonstrate the CDF’s direct involvement. He ruled that the responsibility lay with the soldiers and the Attorney General. “The Attorney General, the UPDF Commander at the scene on the fateful day, Napoleon Namanya, and all those who were sued except the Chief of Defence Forces are jointly liable to pay the said compensation,” Wamala held.
The journalists were represented by lawyers Lester Kaganzi, Michael Owiny, and Isaac Earnest Muwanga, who successfully argued their case. The UPDF Deputy Spokesperson, then Lt. Col. Deo Akiiki, stated that the officers implicated in the case had been convicted by the Military Police Unit Disciplinary Court and sentenced for “conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline of the UPDF.”