KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) – Ugandan police on Thursday confronted popular opposition presidential candidate Bobi Wine during an online press conference to release a petition to the International Criminal Court over alleged abuse by security forces. He said they fired tear gas and bullets when they overpowered his car.
Journalists watched as an officer dragged Wine out of the car while pleading not to violate any law. “As you can see, I’m being arrested,” he told the camera before hearing slaps.
“You are ashamed of the country,” Wine told officials. He was later allowed to complete the briefing and drive on. He spent the day campaigning, saying 23 members of his team had been arrested.
The confrontation that unfolds hours after the deadly riot in the U.S. Capitol has raised questions about whether some governments will be encouraged to return harder against people who call for democratic ideals such as fair elections.
The singer and opposition leader announced that he was asking the ICC to investigate allegations of torture and other violations of rights in the East African country before next week’s election. The ICC receives hundreds of such applications annually from around the world.
The 38-year-old Wine, nicknamed Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, sparked the imagination of many in Africa as he tried to oust the longtime president Yoweri Museveni, who deployed the military to prevent what he sees as opposition attempts to create civil unrest that could cause government change.
Wine and other opposition figures called the 76-year-old Museveni a dictator. “At Museveni’s command, many atrocities are being committed,” the singer told reporters.
Government officials did not immediately comment.
Wine, who has been arrested many times on various charges but never convicted, now says his life could be in danger. He is now campaigning while wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet.
“I expect there will always be a direct bullet fired at me,” said Wine, who sent his children to the United States due to safety concerns.
Asked by the organizer if he wanted to end the briefing, he said he felt safer with the cameras.
At least 54 people were killed in the capital of Uganda, Kampala, and other parts of the country in November, when security forces sparked riots caused by the arrest of Wine for allegedly violating campaign regulations to spread the coronavirus. prevent.
These deaths form a critical part of Wine’s petition to the ICC to investigate alleged torture, mutilation and murder of civilian protesters.
In the petition of Wine and two other alleged victims of torture, Museveni, the Minister of Security, Elly Tumwine, and other security officers are mentioned. The petitioners are represented by US lawyer Bruce Afran, who said he had submitted documents to the court in The Hague on Thursday.
“Tumwine ‘issued the’ shoot to kill ‘orders to the protesters who attacked the police, but the orders were deliberately aimed at civilian protesters,” says the charge, which includes gruesome photos of people suspected of being mutilated during election-related violence.
Wine was a popular singer before winning a seat in parliament and attracting national attention as the beret-bearing leader of a movement known as ‘People Power’. He has been arrested many times in the past year and sometimes beaten for alleged offenses such as disobedience to legal orders.
Prosecutors at the ICC could take years to decide on a petition. Before deciding to conduct a preliminary investigation, they try to filter out those who are clearly not within their jurisdiction. Those who do so are then judged on admissibility – whether the crimes are serious enough to deserve an ICC investigation, and whether the country in question is already investigating or prosecuting the allegations.
Finally, prosecutors determine whether an investigation will be in the interests of justice.
Uganda signs the law established by the ICC.
Other Ugandans abusing similar rights have appealed to the ICC in recent years, which in December did not prosecute a case related to alleged abuses by security forces in a confrontation with supporters of a traditional ruler.
Museveni has ruled Uganda since 1986. He defied many calls for his retirement, saying he was often elected by Ugandans who love him. He spoke disparagingly of the ICC, calling it “a bunch of useless people”.
Ugandan polls are often tainted by allegations of scattering. The country has never seen a peaceful transfer of power since Britain’s independence in 1962.