Emmanuel Magezi, who was arbitrarily detained by the Ugandan Chieftaincy for Military Intelligence (CMI) since March 2019 is dead. The Ugandan authorities did not inform the Rwandan high commission office in Kampala or her foreign ministry in Kigali; the revelation, appearing in the Ugandan English daily, The Daily Monitor, is a reminder that the faith of innocent Rwandans held by CMI is now dire.
Magezi’s lawyer, Aron Kiiza, has been desperately trying to secure his trial or release. The lawyer tried everything to have his client charged or released and even obtained court orders compelling CMI and other Ugandan security agencies to produce his client in court in vain. The long journey ends with the devastating news that he died. Aron Kiiza has a long list of innocents Rwandans, arbitrarily arrested, tortured and secretly detained by CMI, Magezi’s death and its casual announcement illustrates how precarious the situation is.
Shamelessly, the Ugandan Police is said to be carrying out an autopsy to determine the cause of death. Magezi, like hundred others, are detained incommunicado —with no access anyone including family, lawyers and consular services— and are subjected to the most brutal torture. Recently the 9 released innocent Rwandans narrated how while in CMI custody, they were beaten, waterboarded and tortured with electric shocks. They narrated how CMI would string them up and leave them for days blindfolded, shackled and in stress positions. They came back with both physical and mental scars and revealed that some of their compatriots had suffered mental breakdowns due to torture.
Nelson Mugabo, recently released by Ugandan authorities under pressure to implement the Luanda MoU, had mentioned the late Emmanuel Magezi. Mugabo recounted how CMI kidnapped and tortured him for over a year and raised the alarm that other innocents victims of CMI’s Rwandan persecution in Uganda had suffered mental breakdowns. According to Nelson, those who broke down were taken to Butabika mental health hospital. He mentioned that Magezi might have been taken there. His lifeless body was discovered outside the Kirinya ward of the Butabika hospital.
Read: Rwandans detained by Ugandan security share their ordeal
The new development means that CMI is either killing off innocent Rwandan victims of torture or that CMI literally tortured them to death. Either-way, the plight of innocents Rwandans is now dire!
More innocent Rwandans continue to die in the hands of Ugandan security agencies despite the call to cease arbitrary arrests and respect of human rights of Rwandans in Uganda by the recently concluded Quadripartite Summit in Angola and the Luanda MoU.
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