The High Court in Kampala has dismissed an application by Minister for Karamoja, Mary Goretti Kitutu in which she claimed she was tortured by security after her arrest over the Karamoja iron sheets saga.
The court consequently directed that she stands trial for allegedly misappropriating iron sheets meant for Karachunas and other vulnerable groups like the elderly and women in Karamoja sub-region.
“The investigations into the alleged theft of iron sheets meant for the Karamoja community empowerment program and the resultant criminal charges were not irreparably tainted with gross abuse of the applicant’s non-derogable rights with the effect that the trial in the High Court is a nullity in law. The applicant’s non-derogable right to a fair hearing have not been violated through the denial of disclosure of exculpatory exhibits and documents in possession of the state,” Justice Kane Okuo ruled.
Kitutu had through her lawyers accused the state of torturing her during and after her arrest, noting that she was also denied food by police .
However, the Anti Corruption High Court’s Justice Okuo dismissed all the allegations as being baseless, noting that no evidence has been provided to prove any assertion by the minister.
“Members and agents of the Uganda Police, the Parliamentary Committee on Presidential Affairs and other state institutions did not subject the applicant to torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment during the course of their investigations against her,” the judge ruled.
Kitutu had also claimed selective prosecution, telling court that some of the culprits in the Karamoja iron sheets saga had not been lined up for prosecution.
However, court dismissed this claim.
“There is no justification or grounds for the applicant’s expectation that all the suspects in the iron sheets case should be treated exactly the same way. There is no indication that the cases against the applicant and the suspects not prosecuted are essentially the same requiring that all are either prosecuted or all are conversely set free and allowed to return the iron sheets. They have failed to establish unjust or prejudicial treatment in the DPP’s decision to charge. It is a cardinal point of law that he who asserts has the burden to prove. I am not satisfied that this burden has been met.”
The judge also dismissed claims by Kitutu that the media coverage of her trial was biased and that it would not guarantee a fair hearing for her.
Consequently, Justice Okuo dismissed the application to block Kitutu’s trial.
