A lawyer representing remanded novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija has claimed that the 33-year-old writer narrated to him that officers of the elite Special Forces Command (SFC) tortured him in a number of ways, including plucking flesh from his thighs using pliers.
On January 12, Eron Kiiza of Kiiza and Mugisha Advocates visited Rukirabashaija for the first time since his arrest on December 28, 2021.
A day before the visit, on January 11, court charged the writer with disturbing President Museveni and son’s peace. (Read story here).
Rukirabashaija was remanded to Kitalya Prison until January 21.
A Buganda Road Court magistrate has since ordered for the conducting of a medical examination to ascertain the health status of the award winning novelist. (Read report here).
After the visit to Kitalya, Counsel Kiiza petitioned Dr Johnson Byabashaija, the Commissioner General of Uganda Prisons Service (UPS) to expedite the medical examination.
In his January 13 letter, Rukirabashaija’s lawyer narrated the extent of torture meted on his client.
Kiiza said that the novelist had told him that SFC officers had used pliers to pluck flesh off his body, and that only his head was spared.
“When I saw him yesterday at Kitalya, your officers were doing their best to treat his tortured body – SFC tortured him everywhere except his head. His back is full of wounds,” the lawyer wrote to the country’s chief jailer.
“The SFC operatives at Entebbe, he narrated to me, plucked pieces of his body from his thighs with pliers. His arms, like his feet, legs, buttocks, palms, and fingers bear visibly pitiable torture marks and wounds.”
He now wants Byabashaija to ensure that a medical examination is conducted as soon as possible.
“This is therefore to request you to cause his immediate medical examination and furnish both court and ourselves with a copy of his medical report,” Kiiza appealed to the UPS Commissioner General.
“Your swift cooperation will advance justice and is in the interest of the health and life of Kakwenza Rukirabashaija.”
The Pearl Times could not independently verify claims made by both Kiiza and Rukirabashaija as well as allegations against SFC.
