The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | At least 20 cases of torture related to elections have been registered by the African Centre for Rehabilitation and Treatment of Torture Victims-ACTV. Alex Kigoye, the programs manager at ACTV says the cases were registered between September 2020 and December 2020.
He was speaking at the launch of a toolkit for documenting torture at Skyz hotel in Naguru. Kigoye explained that there is a tendency of torture cases going high during elections especially relating to issues to do with arbitrary arrests, police brutality, physical abuse, unlawful detentions and intimidation among others.
According to Kigoye, 13 people were brutalized by security on streets, 3 hit by teargas, 2 shot during riots and two were unlawfully arrested.
He says the state comes out in full force during elections and ends up perpetuating violence while in several cases the community perpetuates torture. Kigoye says the 20 people who were tortured by the state and non-state actors are being treated and rehabilitated by the center.
The country registered 900 cases of torture in 2020 resulting from the enforcement of the COVID-19 standard operating procedures. He says their projection shows that there will be more cases of electoral violence and torture in the 2021 polls. According to ACTV, Uganda registered a spike in torture cases related to the 2006, 2011 and 2016 elections.
Esther Nabwire, the Head of Programs at ACTV says that the major problem they are facing now is that many people fear to report torture cases. She called on torture victims to report cases when they are still fresh to ensure that the details are still intact.
She encouraged many Ugandans who get tortured not to just sit behind and do nothing. She says as an organization, they are preparing to support tortured Ugandans ahead of the elections.
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