Gen. Muhoozi, a.k.a. “Baby Doc,” who personally suprvised the torture of Kakwenza and is responsible for the torture and deaths of many Ugandans. Photo: Facebook.
This petition demands that the International Criminal Court (ICC) open an investigation into the torture of PEN International Writer of Courage 2021 Honoree, Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, by Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba a senior Ugandan military officer and son of the country’s dictator of 36 years Gen. Yoweri Museveni. He is commander of the army’s land forces.
Uganda has a Papa Doc/Baby Doc arrangement resembling Haiti’s back in the era of the Duvaliers.
Rukirabashaija, who is the author of two books and also a weekly columnist for New York City-based Black Star News, has been arrested and severely tortured by the military regime of Gen. Museveni on three occasions.
Gen. Kainerugaba has in recent years been functioning as Uganda’s deputy dictator. He is being groomed to succeed his father who is officially 77 years old but is believed to be in his 80s.
Gen. Kainerugaba has blood-dripping hands. He was implicated in the abductions, torture, maiming and death of countless Ugandans in the period preceding and after the stolen January 14, 2021 Presidential elections as commander of the notorious Special Forces Command (SFC). Many Ugandans disappeared without a trace. Rukirabashaija is one of the few lucky victims to live to tell their story. It helped that his writing gave him global visibility. Many ordinary Ugandans fare much worse, leaving behind mourning mothers, other relatives and friends.
Rukirabashaija was first arrested and tortured by the Museveni/Muhoozi regime in April 2020 when he wrote a novel called “The Greedy Barbarian” about a corrupt brutal dictator in a fictitious African country. Gen. Museveni saw too much similarity between himself and the main character.
Rukirabashaija was arrested for a second time in September 2021 and tortured after he wrote a second book “Banana Republic–Where Writing Is Treasonous” detailing the torture he endured after his first arrest.
Rukirabashaija third arrest by Ugandan intelligence services occurred on December 28 when several armed men, some in civilian attire and some in uniform broke into his home and dragged him away. He was arrested shortly after his social media posting describing the rotund Gen. Kainerugaba as “obese” and a “curmudgeon.”
Over the next several weeks Rukirabashaija endured the most gruesome torture, allegedly supervised by Gen. Kainerugaba, Museveni’s son. The torture included whippings, punching, and brutal kicking all over his slender body. The most macabre torture was the use of pliers to remove flesh from Rukirabashaija’s foot, legs, thighs, and his back.
According to Rukirabashaija, Gen. Kainerugaba personally confronted him in the dungeon where he was tortured and demanded that he “stop writing” and that in return he would be rewarded with a government job, a house, and a vehicle.
After much International outcry Rukirabashaija was released on bail. Even though he was the victim of torture the regime charged him with nebulous crimes related to posting of “offensive” communications.
When Western diplomats in Uganda–including the U.S. ambassador–saw the ugly scarification on Rukirabashaija’s back from torture supervised by Gen. Kainerugaba, some of them reportedly shed tears.
Kakwenza’s back.
Rukirabashaija sought to travel abroad for emergency medical treatment but the regime refused to release his passport. He eventually escaped and fled into exile. Rukirabashaija is currently in Germany, joining another prominent Ugandan critic of the dictatorship, the academic, Dr. Stella Nyanzi.
In a recent interview on WBAI 99.5 FM New York Radio, Rukirabashaija described the torture he endures. He also revealed that his tormentors asked him why he wrote articles for Black Star News, how he knew the publisher Milton Allimadi, and whether Allimadi planned to return to Uganda one day.
Torture as government policy escalated in Uganda after the presidential election of January 14, 2021 was stolen by Gen. Museveni from main challenger Robert Kyagulanyi, a.k.a. Bobi Wine. Even the U.S. which backs the dictatorship with $1 billion annually said the election was “neither free, nor fair.” The U.S. imposed sanctions on several unnamed Uganda officials for the election rigging and violence, presumably including Museveni and Muhoozi.
The desperate regime seems determined to preempt a popular uprising through its campaign of terror.
Most major international media including the Washington Post, New York Times, BBC, the Guardian, Al Jazeera, and DW produced stories with detailed accounts of victims abducted and tortured by the Museveni/Muhoozi regime. Bodies of those killed have been discovered the woods. Mothers travel from one hospital to the next looking for survivors of torture or the remains of loved ones.
On December 7, 2021 the U.S. imposed global Magnitsky sanctions, including a travel ban and asset seizure, on Gen. Abel Kandiho, commander of the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) one of the torture outfits.
The U.S. accused Kandiho of supervising and personally participating in the crimes, including sexual torture, and killings. Instead of also sanctioning Gen. Kandiho, his boss, dictator Museveni, rewarded him for torturing Ugandans with a senior appointment in the national police force. This is confirmation that torture is condoned and ordered by the dictator himself.
Gen. Museveni himself already faces various ICC Investigations for crimes against humanity in Uganda. He was also subject of an ICC 2005 investigation for crimes by Uganda’s military in Congo. According to the Wall Street Journal Museveni begged the U.N. to block that investigation, which must be revived.
In a separate investigation and trial the ICJ (which is separate from the ICC) found Uganda liable and recently issued a final judgment for Uganda to pay Congo $325 million.
Since dictator Museveni and his son Gen. Kainerugaba preside over a lawless regime, Ugandans have no option but to seek international intervention to obtain justice.
The ICC must investigate and indict Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Uganda’s deputy dictator and second most powerful person in the country, as called for in this petition linked herein.
