By Witness Radio team,
A magistrate court in Kiryandongo district has charged two community land rights defenders and eight farmers with three counts of threatening violence and remands all to Kigumba prison ahead of a trial.
Mulekwa David and Mulenga Jackson are both community land rights defenders in Kitwala sub-county, Kiryandongo district; and Kanunu Innocent, Musabe Steven, Munyankole Enock, Lokong Gabriel, Tambara Geoffrey, Kagenyi Steven, Mukombozi Frank, and Kuzara Frank, all cattle farmers at Nyamutende village in Kiryandongo district got rounded up, arbitrarily and violently arrested by Kiryandongo district police commander Muhangi Edison in the wee hours of 8th February 2023.
Mulekwa and Mulenga have been mobilizing the cattle farming community to resist forceful and violent eviction by Sodium Limited Company and its agents.
Visiting the victims at Kiryandongo police cells before being aligned in court by Witness Radio’s legal team, several victims claimed having been severely assaulted and denied medical treatment while in custody.
“We found Mulekwa, one of the defenders with wounds, visible skin marks due to physical assault and bruises, and others. They accused Muhangi, the Kiryandongo district police commander of forcefully breaking into their houses, assaulting them, and causing damage to their properties”. Revealed Arinaitwe Peter, one of the attorneys.
The prosecution alleges that the accused persons on 01/02/2023 threatened to injure or assault or kill, Wakoko Robert, Kilenda David, and Kato Francis while plowing the community’s land with a tractor without their consent.
The complainants are laborers of Somdium Limited, which is forcefully evicting more than 1,000 households off their land. The land is registered on Block 8, Plot 22, Nyamuntende village.
All the accused denied the charges and entered a plea of not guilty.
The prosecution told the court that investigations were complete and ready to proceed with the trial, which revelation was relied on by the trial magistrate to deny defenders and the eight (8) farmers bail and remanded them to Kigumba prison.
The court set the 14th of February 2023 to kick off the trial.
