By Timothy Nsubuga

File Photo: Injured suspect surrounded by police

28^th March 2011:- The Ugandan police’s Rapid Response Unit [RRU] frequently operates outside the law, carrying out torture, extortion, and in some cases, extrajudicial killings, Human Rights Watch has said in its latest report.

The 59-page report, “Violence Instead of Vigilance: Torture and Illegal Detention by Uganda’s Rapid Response Unit,” documents the unit’s illegal methods of investigation and serious violations of the rights of the people it arrests and detains.

The report says RRU has a history of violent and unlawful operations since it was formed by President Yoweri Museveni in 2002 as Operation Wembley, an ad-hoc security entity commanded by an active member of the Ugandan military. It adds that RRU later became the Violent Crime Crack Unit and was formally taken under police command. In 2007, it was renamed the Rapid Response Unit.

“…Changing the unit’s name, leadership, and command makes no difference to the people this unit tortures, detains, or in some cases kills.  The authorities and the donors who fund the police need to get serious about holding abusive officers of this unit accountable”, said Daniel Bekele, the Africa Director at Human Rights Watch.

The Human Rights Watch investigation spanned the period from November 2009 to January 2011 and included over 100 interviews with people arrested and formerly detained by RRU as well as former detainees’ family members, current and former employees of RRU, Police Officers, Intelligence Officers, Lawyers, Journalists, and civil society members.

Operating outside the Law

According to the report, “…the unit’s mandate is to investigate “violent crime” but officers and affiliated personnel have made arrests for a wide range of alleged crimes; from petty offenses to terrorism. The unit’s personnel typically operate in unmarked cars, wear civilian clothing with no identifying insignia, and carry a variety of guns, from pistols to larger assault rifles. The unit’s members have on some occasions transported suspects in the trunks of unmarked cars”.

Human Rights Watch also found that the unit routinely uses torture to extract confessions. Sixty of 77 interviewees who had been arrested by RRU told Human Rights Watch that they had been severely beaten at some point during their detention and interrogations. In 2010, at least two people died of injuries from beatings during interrogations, and four people were shot and killed in the course of an arrest. Several former detainees told Human Rights Watch that they had witnessed co-detainees die from beatings during interrogations but did not know the names of the individuals.

Human Rights Watch says scores of victims across Uganda cited nearly identical treatment during interrogations by the unit’s officers. Detainees were beaten on the joints with batons over the course of several days while handcuffed in stress positions with their hands under their legs.

Human Rights Watch also found that RRU personnel regularly beat detainees with batons, sticks, glass bottles, bats, metal pipes, padlocks, table legs, and other objects. “…In rare instances, the unit’s officers inserted pins under detainees’ fingernails or used electric shock torture. The Ugandan authorities at all levels have a responsibility both to end these practices and to prosecute those responsible”, Human Rights Watch said.

One former detainee of the unit told Human Rights Watch about his arrest and interrogation for allegedly having a gun: “…They handcuffed me and beat me with a [glass] Coke bottle. They beat my friend too. They hit him in the ears a lot. As they were talking they would slap me, saying “tell us where the gun is”, hitting me in the ankles, face, ears and elbows. We went to the RRU office. They took my money from me – about 70,000 shillings [about US$30]. They took us back to our home – searched the house and started torturing me again”, the ex detainee said.

Human Rights Watch added that theft of money during investigations is a common complaint by former detainees. Some were also told they would be released if family members would bring cash to the officers. In several instances, victims of robberies told Human Rights Watch that RRU officers told them money had been recovered during investigations, but then the officers kept part or all of the money.

Forced confessions and illegal prosecutions

Several former detainees told Human Rights Watch that RRU personnel forced them to sign statements under duress, while the detainees were being beaten or threatened with further violence. None of those Human Rights Watch interviewed had been brought before a court within the constitutionally mandated 48 hours. In most cases, Human Rights Watch said, detainees “…were denied access to family or Lawyers in breach of the law”.

People arrested by RRU are often held at the unit’s headquarters in Kireka, Kampala. They are usually then handed over to the military authorities to face trial before military courts. In 2009, the country’s constitutional court held that military courts do not have jurisdiction over civilians. The African Commission has also prohibited the trial of civilians in military courts. “…But Ugandan authorities ignore these rulings and continue these illegal prosecutions”, the Human Rights Watch report said.

Human Rights Watch said it observed trials in which confessions extracted through torture were held as admissible evidence by the court martial without proper scrutiny of the source and methods by which the evidence was obtained.

Extrajudicial Killings

There are no precise figures about how many people may have died in RRU custody or as a result of abuses by the unit. But Human Rights Watch research documented at least six extrajudicial killings in 2010.  RRU officers shot and killed four people in Kyengera in January.  In May, Henry Bakasamba died while officers were questioning him about a robbery of a foreign exchange bureau. In August, RRU officers severely beat Frank Ssekanjako, a 22-year-old robbery suspect, and he died shortly thereafter.

In a positive step, three officers have been arrested and charged with Ssekanjako’s murder, but they were not charged for the severe beatings of Ssekanjako’s co-accused.  Human Rights Watch said, “…the case of these three officers provides an important opportunity for the authorities to show they are serious about tackling RRU’s abusive culture”.

The human rights watchdog however remains concerned about the quality of the police investigation into Ssekanjako’s killing.  It said, “…the actions of the police investigators seriously call into question whether the authorities are committed to pursuing the case with the best evidence…investigators have failed to collect statements from key witnesses to determine the precise cause of Ssekanjako’s death or to document the full range of violence he and his co-accused were subjected to by the unit’s officers”.

Testimonies of interviewed detainees

A former RRU detainee charged with murder, aggravated robbery, and unlawful possession of a firearm said:

“…The beatings started at 9AM and went until 3PM. That RRU man got out a baton and beat me in the knee joints. He asked me to tell him where my boss is, saying that we rob together. He beat my joints for hours. I was seated and handcuffed. When he was not satisfied with my answers, he took a hammer and hit me on my back with it. He hit me on my backbone, from the bottom up to my shoulders. I said that the other man was a thief because I was in so much pain. He said, ‘if you don’t tell the truth, I’ll kill you….If you don’t admit you know this man, we’ll kill you”.

Another former RRU detainee charged with murder, aggravated robbery, and unlawful possession of a firearm said:

“…I made a statement and was put in a car by [my interrogator] and taken to Kireka. He wrote the statement, and he said, ‘Sign here’ He had a baton. I delayed in picking up the pen, and he hit me with the baton. I didn’t write the statement, but I signed it. I don’t know what’s in the statement because I never read it, and he never read it to me”.

A former female RRU detainee charged with counterfeiting said:

“…I cannot recall the number of times they pierced my nails. My nails were destroyed. They were black, swollen, and painful. The needles were inserted under the nail, on both my hands and feet. They pierced every nail”. She also said she witnessed eight women being tortured.

In one of its recommendations, Human Rights Watch said, “…Ugandan authorities should urgently open an independent investigation into the unit’s conduct and activities and hold accountable anyone responsible for human rights violations”.

Our email request for a comment to Police Spokesperson Judith Nabakoba was yet to be answered by the time we went to press.  END.  Please log into www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.