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Government drops all charges against MP Zaake
MP Zaake outside court in Mityana. He now walks on sticks because of the torture that was inflicted on him by state operatives
The Director of Public Prosecutions Frances Abodo has withdrawn all charges she had brought against Mityana Municipality MP Francis Zaake in which he was accused of violating the president’s directives when he allegedly distributed food to his constituents during the lockdown.
In a tweet, Zaake posted the DPP’s withdrawal letter and added that: “ The Directorate of Public Prosecutions has unexpectedly WITHDRAWN all the charges it had brought against me for delivering food items to some of my constituents. Remember that it was for these charges that I was arrested and tortured. It had come up for hearing at the Court in Mityana.”
The withdrawal of the charges has been met with a lot of anger among people because of the torture that was meted out on Zaake which could potentially leave him permanently disabled.
Zaake was arrested in March for hiring boda bodas to pick and drop packed food items from his residence in Buswabulongo in Mityana to needy people in his constituency. The police officers said he violated the president’s directives against gathering of people, even though there was no evidence of him gathering people.
The case had generated a lot of emotions in Mityana and hatred against NRM-leaning individuals whom the people accused of supporting torture. The Police administration could also have been moved to pull back from a needless stand-off with the people in the absence of incriminating evidence.
The fact that more NRM MPs and Ministers have committed even worse crimes of gathering people has made Zaake’s crimes look like a personal vendetta.
In a related development, MP Zaake said the DPP has applied to take over the private prosecution of a criminal matter in which Zaake is seeking to ensure that the police officers who brutalised him pay for their crimes in their individual capacities.
Zaake says that in case court grants the DPP her wish, he plans to bring fresh charges against the law enforcement officials.
I never knew that those who tortured me in the guise of enforcing the law would at one point become fugitives, trying to hide from the same law they claimed to have been enforcing.
And yet that is exactly what happened today as Wamala Region RPC Kagarura Bob; Mityana DPC Mwine Alex Mukono; SIU’s Twesigye Hamdan, Elly Womanya, Walugembe Musa, and Oketcho Isaac feared to turn up at Court and instead sent a ‘lawyer’ to represent them in the private Prosecution I initiated against them.
The prosecution of these criminals was supposed to kick off today, but the DPP ambushed us with a letter requesting to be permitted by Court to take over these proceedings before the police criminals have even taken plea! I suspect that the DPP’s intention is to kill off this matter once it takes it over as the State has on several occasions claimed that I tortured myself.
Luckily, my lawyers were alert and managed to stave off the DPP’s ambush. Court was adjourned up to 18th August, on which day the Magistrate will rule upon the DPP’s request. Criminal Summons for the rogue officers have also been extended until then.
Should the DPP take over this matter, I intend to bring fresh charges against the criminals who wanted to end my life.
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