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From: Ssemakula <[email protected]>
To: unaanet <[email protected]>; "[email protected]"
<[email protected]>; Buganda Discussion <[email protected]>;
"[email protected]" <[email protected]>; Baana
<[email protected]>
Cc: UDII <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2011 8:27 PM
Subject: Museveni advised to stop abuse of military courts
HRW urges Uganda to stop court martialling civilians
(AFP) – 15 hours ago
KAMPALA — Human Rights Watch on Wednesday called on Uganda to stop using
military courts to prosecute civilians.
More than 1,000 civilians have been court martialled since 2002 despite
Uganda's constitutional court ruling that the military cannot try civilians
charged with common crimes, the New York-based rights group said in report.
"Prosecuting civilians in military courts may have been a matter of convenience
and expediency for President Yoweri Museveni's government," said Maria Burnett,
an Africa researcher with the watchdog.
"But it is unjust and unlawful under both Uganda's constitution and
international and African human rights law," Burnett added in a statement.
The rights group highlighted a case in which a 20-year-old woman was sentenced
to death in 2010 by a military court for killing her husband who was a soldier.
The court said that the death penalty "should serve as an example to all women
married to soldiers to desist from plotting to kill their husbands over petty
issues," the report said.
Military courts in Uganda do not meet international legal standards for
independence and impartiality and have in the past handed out severe
punishments, including the death penalty, the report added.
Although the Ugandan military has indicated that it is considering altering the
practice, at least 341 civilians are currently awaiting trial by military
courts, HRW said.
"At the moment, the military leadership is in talks with the office of the
attorney general and the prison services about transferring the prisoners to
face civilian courts," army spokesman Felix Kulayigye told AFP.
"It must be a gradual process... we cannot just release all of the suspects
onto the streets," he added.
However, Burnett said: "If the Ugandan military is to live up to its
much-proclaimed professionalism, it should abandon subjecting civilians to a
military jurisdiction, which is a stark violation of professionalism and
international law."
For more information about this see:
Uganda: End Trials of Civilians in Military Courts
http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/07/27/uganda-end-trials-civilians-military-courts
or click your way thru
Righting Military Injustice
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2011/07/27/righting-military-injustice
James Ssemakula
Thanx to DS
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