Publication date: Saturday, 5th April, 2003
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ADVISED: Butera |
By John Eremu
CRIES by Human Rights Watch (HRW) for clemency for the two teenage boys charged with treason have finally paid off.
Amnesty Commission chairman Justice P.K.K. Onega on Wednesday said the boys, aged 14 and 16, had applied for amnesty following advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Richard Butera.
The US-based rights group last month petitioned the Government to drop the charges against the boys, saying they were forcibly abducted into the Lord’s Resistance Army.
In a letter to the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Hajat Janat Mukwaya, HRW said it was “concerned about the Government’s bringing charges against the boys.”
Butera said the charges could only be dropped if they applied for amnesty.
Onega said the commission had received the applications which will soon be forwarded to the DPP for review.
“Usually the applications are submitted to the DPP who then verifies whether the applicants have no other charges before granting them amnesty,” Onega said.
He said he held a meeting with security agencies on the possibility of informing the Amnesty Commission, should any treason charges be preferred against a child arrested in combat.
“The imposition of treason charges runs contrary to Uganda’s obligations under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict,” HRW said in a report. added.
The boys testified that they were forcibly abducted by the LRA.
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