The journalists from state-owned New Vision newspaper are Timothy Murungi and Henry Sekanjako.
Justice Boniface Wamala in his Wednesday ruling observed that the security operatives violated Article 29(1) (a) of the Constitution, that demands that every person shall have a right to freedom of speech and expression which shall include freedom of the press and other media- by beating up the journalists going about their professional work.
“The 2nd and 3rd applicants (the duo journalists) led evidence showing that they were assaulted and sustained bodily injuries while they were covering news stories and taking photographs in the course of their business as journalists,” ruled Justice Wamala.
He added: “This evidence was not rebutted by the respondents (AG and the sued officers) and has been found by the court to be credible. In view of the evidence and circumstances before me. I find the sum of Shs75m appropriate as general damages to each of the two.”
The award to the journalists will be footed by the office of the Attorney General, whom the judge said is vicariously liable for the offensive conduct of its officers, servants or agents.
In the heated aftermath of the 2021 presidential polls, opposition leader Bobi Wine paid a courtesy call to the United Nations Human Rights Offices in Kololo following an election the Electoral Comission declared was won by Museveni.
Several journalists went along to cover Bobi Wine’s visit. Core to Mr Kyagulanyi’s visit to the UN Human Rights offices that have since been closed was to present a petition about the alleged abductions and disappearances of his supporters during a deadly electoral season.
Seeking to block press coverage of the event, police and military officers descended on journalists, beating and harming several on February 17, 2021. Â
In the aftermath of the much-condemned assault on the press, the Uganda Journalists Association, Murungi and Sekanjako, filed a lawsuit against the Attorney General and at least six security officers including Chief of Defense Forces (CDF), Lt Col Napoleone Namanya, Capt Jessy Odwenyi, L/CPL Zirimenya Kassim, CPL Justine Nimusiima, PTE Peter Wasswa, PTE Tsame Imran, PTE Victoria Kisakye and PTE Isaac Opiyo.
In his ruling, the judge dismissed the liability against the CDF over lack of evidence although he also condemned the attack on the journalists.
Other journalists who were beaten at the Kololo event but never went legal against the Attorney General included NBS TV’s Josephine Namakumbi,, John Cliff Wamala, formerly with NTV-Uganda, Ms Irene Abalo Otto of Monitor, who almost became disabled after her nerves on the lower leg were badly affected, and Shamim Nabakooza, formerly of Record TV but now with NBS TV.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General had unsuccessfully argued that the court case had been filed in public interest on behalf of all journalists and therefore, could not be lodged as a human rights enforcement application and that the same ought to have been filed in the Constitutional Court.
Further, the Attorney General had denied that the military was engaged in any systematic assault of journalists before asking that the case be dismissed.
