Justice Boniface Wamala of the High Court in Kampala has ordered the government of Uganda to pay a total of Sh50 million in compensation to renowned author and dissent writer Kakwenza Rukirabashaija.
The decision comes after the court ruled that Kakwenza’s human rights were violated during his arrest and detention in April 2020.
Kakwenza sued the Attorney General, citing several human rights abuses, including torture, incommunicado detention, and unlawful search and seizure of his property.
His arrest occurred after the publication of his novel The Greedy Barbarian, a deeply satirical story about Kayibanda, a refugee with an untamable vile character who rises to political prominence in an acutely corrupt African state and “literally eats up the country.”
The book allegedly angered some leaders in Uganda, who believed the story was a mockery of real life. Kakwenza was subsequently arrested and held incommunicado until his lawyer, Eron Kiiza, filed a writ of habeas corpus, compelling the state to produce him, dead or alive.
Though later charged in court, Kakwenza maintained he had been tortured, with visible swollen ankles and wounds on his back.
Justice Wamala found that the actions of the security officers who abducted Kakwenza were illegal and violated his constitutional rights to personal liberty, privacy, and freedom from torture.
The court heard that Kakwenza was held incommunicado for seven days, during which he was beaten, blindfolded, and subjected to waterboarding and other forms of torture.
“His captors also forced him to reveal passwords to his social media accounts, which were accessed during brutal interrogations,” reads part of the High Court ruling.
The court ruled that his detention from April 13 to April 20, 2020, violated Uganda’s constitutional protections against arbitrary arrest and detention.
Justice Wamala further stated that the treatment of Kakwenza by government agents amounted to “torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment” and infringed on his privacy rights by conducting searches without a warrant.
“The applicant was subjected to acts of torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment during his detention,” said Justice Wamala in his ruling.
The court awarded Kakwenza Shs40 million in general damages and an additional Shs10 million in exemplary damages, citing the high-handed and unconstitutional behavior of the security officers involved.
The court also stressed the importance of holding state agents accountable for such violations.
Kakwenza’s ordeal became symbolic of the suppression of free speech in Uganda, particularly for those critical of the government.
Following the release of his second book, Banana Republic: Where Writing is a Crime, which led to another arrest and allegations of torture, Kakwenza fled to exile in Germany, where he now lives as a guest of PEN International.
While the court did not find sufficient evidence to directly link his detention to his novel, it acknowledged that Kakwenza had been targeted and mistreated by state agents.
In addition to the compensation, the court ordered the government to cover the costs of the lawsuit.
This ruling adds to a growing list of cases in which Ugandan courts have found state agents guilty of human rights violations. In a similar case, the Constitutional Court ruled in Behangana & Anor v Attorney General (2010) that the illegal search of a home without a warrant was a violation of privacy rights, a ruling that resonates with Kakwenza’s case.