Ugandan writer Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, who was charged with insulting President Yoweri Museveni and his son, the head of the land forces, has flown to Germany to receive medical treatment for the wounds he says he sustained during a month in custody, according to his lawyer.
Rukirabashaija, who was ordered by the court not to talk to the press about his ordeal in detention and what he called torture at the hands of his jailers, published a video of the healing scars on his back and his swollen ankles.
He also went on television to speak of his torture and of the unknown substances he was injected with in detention.
Calling his client’s escape from Uganda a “big relief,” lawyer Eron Kiiza said Rukirabashaija left Uganda two weeks ago by walking into Rwanda. He did not have his passport, because the court would not give it back to him.
The German PEN Center is happy to welcome the persecuted Ugandan author #KakwenzaRukirabashaija to Germany! Today Rukirabashaija arrived safely here, he is under the care of friends and PEN. @KakwenzaRukira https://t.co/awSucxPYFT
— PEN Deutschland (@PEN_Deutschland) February 23, 2022
He then walked to a third country, where UN Refugee Agency helped him get to Germany, but Kiiza declined to give further details.
His trial was scheduled to begin on Wednesday.
PEN Germany’s Director, Deniz Yucel, welcomed him to Germany on behalf of PEN International, a group promoting writers and freedom of expression.
Germany also hosts fellow Ugandan poet and activist Stella Nyanzi, who was given a “writers in exile” grant from PEN Germany.
Rukirabashaija was awarded the 2021 PEN Pinter Prize for an International Writer of Courage. The award highlights a write who has been persecuted for speaking out, as he was for his satirical novel, “the Greedy Barbarian.” He sets the book in a mythical country riddled with high-level corruption.
International outrage
The novelist was detained shortly after Christmas for his tweets against Museveni, who has been in power since 1986.
He also spoke out against Museveni’s son, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who many believe is being groomed to take his father’s place.
Rukirabashaija was charged with "offensive communication" only after a number of weeks in detention.
The European Union called for a comprehensive investigation into rights abuses in Uganda, and human rights activists worldwide called for all charges to be dropped against the novelist.
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Uganda writer Rukirabashaija flees the country, fearing for his life: lawyer
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Ugandan writer Rukirabashaija tortured over Museveni & son criticism: lawyer
"It is intolerable that Ugandan security forces are still torturing and ill-treating detainees," said Oryem Nyeko, Uganda researcher at Human Rights Watch in a statement earlier this month.
"Instead of prosecuting their critics over tweets, the Ugandan authorities should be investigating this and many other serious allegations of torture by state security in recent years," he added.
The writer has continued his tweeting against the Ugandan government since he left the country, calling Kainerugaba a “baby despot.”
Kainerugaba denies he knew the author.
"I don't know who this young boy is whom they say was beaten! I never heard of him until the media started talking about him. I've never met him or talked to him and I have no desire to do so," Kainerugaba said on Twitter.
Journalists, lawyers, election monitors and opposition have been violently muzzled, arrested or disappeared in Uganda in a crackdown against dissent.
