The act allows private individuals to institute criminal cases against officials accused of torture, reported 76 Crimes.ħ6 Crimes reported the organization's lawyers plan to apply to the court to issue arrest warrants for Kiyimba and Woniala following their failed appearance in court. HRAPF filed criminal cases on behalf of seven of the COSF members, utilizing sections of the Prevention and Control of Torture Act, 2012. The organization was forced to institute private proceedings on behalf of the young people. Local police were unwilling to respond to HRAPF's reports of torture.
A majority of the youths spent the full time in prison.
Some of the people were later released due to health concerns. Witnesses and the youth described onlookers jeering at them and threatening them as they were taken to the police station.ĭuring the youths' incarceration they were taunted, flogged, denied access to basic necessities, such as food and medication, and denied access to an attorney and their right to a fair hearing and bail, the youths' lawyers told Reuters. Reuters reported that during the arrest the youths were beaten by Kiyimba and bound in ropes, then marched barefoot to a nearby police station. Officers charged the youths with disobeying Uganda's pandemic mandates to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus. The youths' - 13 gay men, two bisexual men, and four transgender women - ordeal began March 29 when Ugandan police raided the Children of the Sun Foundation's LGBTQ youth homeless shelter located on the outskirts of Kampala, Uganda's capital city. Individuals charged with homosexuality face seven years to life in prison. The 20 LGBTQ youths were reportedly tortured and humiliated in March and held in jail for 50 days. "It sends a clear message that courts are willing to stand up for victims of torture, even where the police reluctant to act," Adrian Jjuuko, executive director of Human Rights Awareness and Prevention Forum, told 76 Crimes at the time. Activists had initially declared that the criminal summonses sent a strong message against torturing and humiliating LGBTQ people when they were issued. The absence of the chief magistrate and Kiyimba and Woniala sends a worrying signal. Lawyers from Human Rights Awareness and Prevention Forum, an LGBTQ-friendly legal advocacy organization representing the youths, were not able to obtain a new court date as of press time. They were scheduled to appear before a judge August 26.ħ6 Crimes reported that Chief Magistrate Nakadama Esther Lydia Mubiru, who is overseeing the case, also was not in court due to working on cases in Kigo Prison. Hajj Abdul Kiyimba, the chairman for Local Council III of Kyengera Town Council, and Philimon Woniala, a prisons officer, were summoned to the court August 21. Two Ugandan officials summoned to Uganda's Chief Magistrates Court of Wakiso to face criminal charges for torturing and humiliating 20 LGBTQ youth did not appear in court.