By Watchdog reporter
The Uganda Police Force has vowed to punish all its officers who take part in torturing suspects.
This comes at a moment when police is at crossfire after being implicated in the torturing of suspects being accused of killing the former police spokesperson AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi who was gunned down by unknown assailants on 17 March 2017 while coming from his home in Kulambiro, a city suburb.
One of the extremely tortured suspects is Geoffrey Byamukama, the mayor of Kamwenge town council who has been nursing wounds at Nakasero Hospital in Kampala.
According to Police spokesperson Asan Kasingye, Byamukama was arrested at the Ministry of Lands office along Parliament avenue on 5th April 2017 by police and after the arrest, two of the officers and the suspect got involved in the scuffle on the way after Byamukama realized he was not being taken to Naguru police headquarters as earlier told at the point of arrest. The suspect sustained superficial injuries in the process though Byamukama aggravated his medical condition.
“Police has given the suspect the best medical care possible at Nakasero hospital in Kampala at the police’s bill. Mr Byamukama has been discharged and will be getting periodic reviews at the same time,”
Kasingye revealed that officers who inflicted injuries on Byamukama have been arrested and will be thoroughly investigated and if found to have not followed the police professional standards, they will face the law.
“However, our officers who afflicted injuries on Mr Byamukama have been arrested, they’ll be thorough investigated and if found to have not followed our professional standards, they will face the law as has been the case in such scenarios when our officers go against our guidelines and professional standards in the course of their duties,”
“We take the observance of human rights during arrest and detention very seriously, and we punish individual misconduct since this is not our institutional practice,”
Kasingye further reassured the country that police will ensure its standards are followed and that the rule of law prevails, which includes continued observance of the laws of Uganda and international statutes in the handling of suspects in our custody and during arrest.
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