Court awards journalists sh150m over brutality

KAMPALA - Court has awarded two journalists, Henry Ssekanjako and Timothy Murungi, shillings 150 million as general damages for being assaulted by security personnel.

The journalists were beaten by security officers while covering National Unity Platform party president Robert Kyagulanyi's petition submission to the United Nations Human Rights office in Kololo, Kampala on February 17, 2021.

Justifying his decision for the award, Justice Boniface Wamala of the Civil Division of the High Court, on November 13, 2024, ruled that the journalists’ rights to dignity and freedom from torture were violated.

“The rights of Ssekanjako and Murungi to dignity and freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment under Articles 24 and 44(a) of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda were violated by the respondents except the 2nd respondent,” the judge declared.

As a result, the judge ordered the Government, Lt. Col. Namanya Napoleone, Capt. Jessy Odwenyi, L/Cpl Kassim Zirimenya,  Cpl. Justine Nimusiima, Pte Peter Wasswa,  Pte Imran Tsame,  Pte Victoria Kisakye and Pte Isaac Opiyo to pay the journalist the money.

As a result, the judge ordered the Government to pay the journalist the money together with Lt. Col. Namanya Napoleone, Capt. Jessy Odwenyi, L/Cpl Kassim Zirimenya,  Cpl. Justine Nimusiima, Pte Peter Wasswa,  Pte Imran Tsame,  Pte Victoria Kisakye and Pte Isaac Opiyo.

Wamala also ruled that the rights of the 2nd and 3rd applicants to freedom of the press and the media under Article 29(1)(a) of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda were violated by the respondents except the 2nd respondent.

The judge ruled that the two journalists were subjected to acts amounting to torture, inhuman and degrading treatment and that their right to freedom of the press and the media was violated.

“The applicants are entitled to compensation by way of damages for such wrongful conduct on the part of the respondents,” he ruled.

The ruling follows a case filed by the two journalists and the Uganda Journalists Association (UJA).

UJA and its members last year sued the UPDF, the Attorney General and eight military officers in the Civil Division of the High Court.

In their petition, they contended that all adult and eligible accredited journalists or media houses in Uganda have a right to practice journalism without unjustified interference from government or its agencies.

They argued that every journalist has the freedom to practice his trade and inform the public of what is happening in the country.