The family of Dr Acleo Kalinga, a Rwandan fugitive who accused UPDF Special Forces Command operatives of abducting him from Tanzania and detaining him in Uganda, has sued government.
In the suit dated November 22 and filed at the High court in Kampala, the family wants Kalinga released unconditionally and to be paid damages for what they term as “unlawful detention.”
“The accused has not committed any crime against the state or any individual. He is being tortured for having filed a case against Uganda at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), Gambia, in 2009,” reads part of the suit filed by Ssebaggala, Mirembe and Associates.
They also want the court to order the state to immediately produce Kalinga dead or alive (habeas corpus)because they are not sure he is alive. Kalinga is reportedly held at an unknown facility.
The trial date has not been set. On the suit, they have attached an affidavit sworn earlier by Kalinga when he petitioned ACHPR in 2009 distancing himself from any criminal activity.
In an email, one of the sisters, who fled to the United States, said all they want is justice and the release of their brother.
“He did not commit any crime. Why would they hunt him as if they are hunting a terrorist?” said the sister who requested to remain anonymous.
Meanwhile, Med Kaggwa, the chairman of the Uganda Human Rights Commission, told The Observer this week that he had heard about Kalinga’s case although he had not studied it in detail.
“I know about it but you have to give me some time [to study it],” Kaggwa said.
Kaggwa, who represents Uganda at the ACHPR,addedthat whenever the case comes up, he has to excuse himself because it involves Uganda. Last month, we reported that Kalinga, 46, a medical doctor, had accused SFC boss Maj Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba and other Ugandan state agents of hounding him (see Muhoozi cited in arrest of Rwanda refugee).
He claimed that at one time while in detention, SFC operatives pressed him to withdraw the petitions lodged with international bodies in exchange for his freedom.
On their part, the state accuses Kalinga of trafficking in persons, treachery and espionage, among other charges. Kalinga last made a public appearance on November 11 before Justice Wilson Masalu Musene at the criminal division of the High court.
He has also appeared in Buganda Road court and at the International Crimes division of the High court in Kololo over related charges.
KALINGA’S TROUBLES
In May 2007, The Observer broke the story of Kalinga’s predicament who at that time had been accused of being a Rwanda spy and an assassin (see; Arrested, tortured for being a Kagame spy, The Observer, May 17-23, 2007).
Kalinga was arrested in Uganda in June 2005 by security operatives who claimed that he had been sent by the Rwandese government to assassinate President Museveni.
He said he had accompanied a Rwandan friend to pick up a sick mother from Mbarara, when he was arrested by Ugandan security and driven to Kampala. For two years, Kalinga was detained in several facilities, including the then Violent Crime Crack Unit (VCCU) offices in Kireka, Makindye military police barracks and Kampala Central police station. He also claimed he had been tortured physically and psychologically.
Col Dick Bugingo, then commandant of the Military Police, confirmed that Kalinga had been detained at Makindye for “his own safety”. Former Makindye West MP Hussein Kyanjo brought Kalinga’s plight into the national spotlight after the legislator spent two nights with him at CPS.
On being released, Kalinga was handed over to the Rwandan embassy in Kampala, which sent him home. When previously strained relations between Rwanda and Uganda thawed, Kalinga’s stay in Kigali became untenable and he escaped to Arusha, Tanzania, in 2009.
In 2010, the UNCHR granted Kalinga refugee status in Tanzania, from where – he claimed – he was arrested and returned to Uganda in 2013.
ekiggundu@observer.ug