Kampala, (UG): Uganda’s former Inspector General of Police, Gen (Rtd) Kale Kayihura has finally been set free after the Court Martial on Wednesday dropped all charges against him after five years.
Presiding over the country’s top military court in Makindye, the Court Martial chairman Brig Gen Freeman Mugabe declared that Kahiyura has been exonerated of the charges relating to failing to protect war material and abetting illegal repatriation of Rwanda exiles.
Brig Mugabe hence declared that the ex-police boss “is now a free man” with immediate effect.
“The state has withdrawn the charges. You are accordingly set free. I wish you all the best,” the Court Martial announced on Wednesday morning.
Speaking shortly after the court session, Gen (Rtd) Kayihura expressed his gratitude to God and President Museveni after seeing that the General Court Martial has dropped all charges against him.
“I am extremely happy, above all I would like to thank God, who has sustained me, because it has been by his grace, that this was made possible and I thank our President and all the people who have made this possible,” Kayihura said.
“More will be communicated at a later stage,” he added.
Kayihura, who previously served as the military assistant to the head of state, is among the army generals who will be retiring on August 31, 2013.
The decision to drop charges against Kayihura comes just a month after President Museveni okayed his retirement from the army.
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Background
Kayihura was arrested in 2018 and charged with failure to protect materials, failure to supervise police officers, and abetting the kidnap of Rwandan refugees who were forcefully repatriated back home.
The charges were filed in 2018, a year after he had stepped down as police chief.
On 13 September 2019, Gen Kayihura was sanctioned by the United States Department of the Treasury for gross violation of Human rights when he was head of the Uganda Police Force (UPF).
The US sanctions related to Kayihura’s involvement in instructing the Flying Squad Unit to torture Ugandans at places such as the notorious Nalufenya Special Investigations Center (NSIC) in Jinja, Eastern Uganda.
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