(Kampala) The Ugandan state refuses to comply with a court order ordering the release of a famous writer, Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, accused of insulting the son of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, the prosecutor’s office and the prosecutor said on Friday. author’s lawyer.
Arrested on December 28 at his home in Kampala, 33-year-old Kakwenza Rukirabashaija was originally scheduled to be brought before a court on Tuesday for making “offensive” remarks against President Museveni’s son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, a general many see as his successor. father, aged 77.
The state refuses to release him
But the same day, a magistrate, seized of a request for release lodged by Mr. Rukirabashaija’s lawyer, ordered that the writer be “unconditionally” released, adding: “All police officers must comply with this order”.
“The state is not satisfied with the decision” of the judge ordering the release of Mr. Rukirabashaija, said Christine Kaahwa, an official in the prosecutor’s office.
“The Attorney General formally asked” the magistrate “to urgently provide us with a certified true copy […] of the decision in order to allow us to take the appropriate measures, ”she added, without specifying the nature of the measures in question.
Mr. Rukirabashaija’s lawyer, Eron Kiiza, said he was notified of proceedings initiated by the Ugandan state to prevent the release of his client, including the satirical novel The Greedy Barbarian (not translated into French), describing an imaginary country plagued by corruption, was hailed in 2020 by critics.
“We insist on the fact that the police must comply with the court’s decision to release our client, who has been illegally detained for a long time,” he stressed.
Mr. Rukirabashaija faces up to one year in prison if convicted.
“Obese” and “grumpy”
Outstanding slayer of Ugandan power and President Museveni, Rukirabashaija has recently stepped up his criticism of the head of state’s son, calling him “obese” and “grumbling” in recent social media posts. .
The writer’s wife, Eva Basiima, also said that she had lodged a complaint against the police and the special unit responsible for the protection of the head of state and his family for the “illegal detention” of her husband.
She said she saw him for the last time on Monday, along with plainclothes and armed members of the security forces, who came to search their country house in Iganga, about 110 kilometers east of the capital.
He seemed to have been tortured, he was limping, did not wash and […] bore traces of blood.
The writer’s wife, Eva Basiima
“We have not been able to visit him since his arrest and the security forces have hampered our efforts to find out his whereabouts,” she added.
The United States and the European Union, among others, have called for his release.
Arrested several times since the publication of “The Greedy Barbarian”, Mr. Rukirabashaija claimed to have been tortured during questioning about his book.
He described this period of incarceration in his most recent book “Banana Republic: Where Writing is Treasonous”.
He was honored in 2021 with the PEN Pinter Prize for an International Writer of Courage, awarded each year to an author persecuted for expressing his beliefs.
Mr. Museveni has ruled Uganda since 1986, when he ended years of Idi Amin Dada and Milton Obote’s dictatorship.
Seen as a reformer when he took power, he has since severely suppressed all dissent and amended the Constitution to allow him to be re-elected without stopping.