KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) – Ugandan police on Thursday clashed with popular opposition presidential candidate Bobi Wine at an online press conference to announce a petition to the International Criminal Court on alleged abuses by security forces. He said they fired tear gas and bullets as they swarmed his car.
Journalists watched as an officer pulled Wine out of the car while he alleged that he had not broken any law. “As you can see, I’m under arrest,” he told the room, before sounds were heard.
“You are embarrassed by the country,” Wine told officers. He was later allowed to complete the briefing and continue. He spent his day in the campaign, during which time he said that 23 members of his team were arrested.
The confrontation that took place a few hours after the deadly uprising in the US Chapter has led to questions about whether some governments will be encouraged to push harder against people who invoke democratic ideals, such as fair elections.
The singer and opposition leader announced that he was calling on the ICC to investigate allegations of torture and other violations of rights in the East African country before next week’s elections. The ICC receives hundreds of such requests each year from around the world.
The 38-year-old wine, whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, has sparked the imagination of many in Africa as he has been trying to oust the longtime president. Yoweri Museveni, who deployed the army to prevent what he sees as attempts by the opposition to create civil unrest that could cause regime change.
Wine and other opposition figures called Museveni, 76, a dictator. “Many atrocities are being committed under Museveni’s orders,” the reporter’s singer said.
Government officials did not comment immediately.
Wine, arrested several times on various charges but never convicted, now says his life could be in danger. He is now campaigning while wearing a vest and a bulletproof helmet.
“I expect a live bullet to hit me at any time,” said Wine, who sent her children to the United States for safety reasons.
When asked by the organizer if he wants to end the briefing, he said he feels safer with the cameras on.
At least 54 people were killed in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, and other parts of the country in November, while security forces canceled riots over Wine’s arrest for violating campaign regulations to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
These deaths are an essential part of Wine’s petition to the ICC to investigate the alleged acts of torture, mutilation and murder of civilian protesters.
The petition of Wine and two other alleged victims of torture mentions Museveni, security minister Elly Tumwine and other security officials. The petitioners are represented by the American lawyer Bruce Afran, who stated that he submitted documents to the court in The Hague on Thursday.
Tumwine “issued” kill to kill “orders nominally to target protesters who attacked police, but the orders were deliberately targeted against civilian demonstrators,” says the complaint, which includes frightening photos of people allegedly mutilated in during election-related violence.
Wine was a popular singer before winning a seat in parliament and attracted national attention as the leader of a movement known as “People’s Power”. He has been arrested many times and sometimes beaten in the last year for alleged crimes, such as non-compliance with legal orders.
It may take years for ICC prosecutors to reach a decision on a petition. Before deciding whether to carry out a preliminary investigation, they try to filter out those who are clearly not in their jurisdiction. Those who do so are then assessed for admissibility – whether the offenses are serious enough to merit an ICC investigation and whether the country in question is already investigating or following up the allegations.
Finally, prosecutors assess whether an investigation would be in the interests of justice.
Uganda is a signatory to the statute that created the ICC.
Other Ugandans citing similar rights abuses have in recent years called on the ICC, which in December refused to try a case involving alleged abuses by security forces in a 2016 confrontation with supporters of a traditional leader.
Museveni has led Uganda since 1986. He has defied many retirement applications, saying he has been elected many times by Ugandans who love him. He spoke contemptuously of the ICC, calling it “a bunch of useless people.”
Polls in Uganda are often plagued by allegations of fraud. The country has never seen a peaceful transfer of power since independence from Britain in 1962.