KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) – Ugandan police clashed at Thursday’s online press conference with popular opposition presidential candidate Bobi Wine to announce a petition to the International Criminal Court on alleged abuses by forces of security. He said they fired tear gas and bullets as they swarmed with his car.
Journalists watched as an officer dragged Wine out of the car as he claimed he was not breaking any laws. “As you can see, I’m being arrested,” he said to the camera before exploding sounds were heard.
“You’re embarrassing the country,” Wine told agents. He was later allowed to finish the briefing and move on. He had spent the day campaigning, during which he said 23 members of his team had been arrested.
The confrontation came hours after the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol that sparked questions about whether some governments would be encouraged to back down more against people who invoke democratic ideals like fair elections.
The singer and opposition leader announced that he was asking the ICC to investigate allegations of torture and other abuses of rights in the East African country ahead of next week’s elections. The ICC receives hundreds of such applications from around the world each year.
The 38-year-old wine, whose real name is Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, has piqued the imagination of many in Africa as he tries to oust the longtime president. Yoweri Museveni, who has deployed the army to avoid what he believes the opposition is trying to create civil unrest that could cause regime changes.
Wine and other opposition figures have called Museveni, 76, a dictator. “Many atrocities are being committed under Museveni’s orders,” the singer told reporters.
Government officials did not comment immediately.
Wine, arrested many times on various charges but never convicted, says his life may be in danger. He is now campaigning with a bulletproof vest and helmet.
“I hope there is a live bullet aimed at me at any moment,” said Wine, who has sent her children to the United States for security reasons.
When the organizer asked her if she wanted to finish the briefing, she said she felt safer with the cameras on.
In November, at least 54 people were killed in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, and elsewhere in the country, while security forces quelled riots over Wine’s arrest for allegedly violating campaign regulations aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus.
These deaths form a key part of Wine’s request to the ICC to investigate alleged acts of torture, mutilation and murder of civilian protesters.
The request of Wine and two alleged victims of torture mentions Museveni, Security Minister Elly Tumwine and other security officials. The petitioners are represented by U.S. Attorney Bruce Afran, who said he filed documents in Hague court on Thursday.
Tumwine “nominally issued“ shoot to kill ”orders to target protesters who attacked police, but the orders were deliberately directed against civilian protesters,” the complaint says, which includes horrific photos of people allegedly mutilated during electoral violence.
Wine was a popular singer before gaining a seat in parliament and attracted national attention as the leader of a beret movement known as the “People Power”. He has been arrested many times and was sometimes beaten over the past year for alleged crimes such as disobeying legal orders.
ICC prosecutors can take years to make a decision on a petition. Before deciding whether to conduct a preliminary investigation, they try to filter out those that are clearly not within their jurisdiction. The admissibility of those who do so is then assessed: whether the crimes are serious enough to merit an ICC investigation and whether the country in question is already investigating or processing the allegations.
Finally, prosecutors measure whether an investigation would be in the interests of justice.
Uganda is a signatory to the statute created by the ICC.
Other Ugandans citing similar rights abuses have filed a petition in recent years with the ICC, which in December declined to prosecute a case related to alleged abuses by security forces in a 2016 clash with supporters of a ruler. traditional.
Museveni has ruled Uganda since 1986. He has challenged many calls to retire, saying he has been elected many times by Ugandans who love him. He spoke contemptuously of the ICC, calling it “a group of useless people.”
Ugandan polls are often affected by allegations of rigging. The country has never seen a peaceful transfer of power since Britain’s independence in 1962.