Charles Ariko
17 March 2008
Kampala — THE Prisons service is ready hold LRA leader Joseph Kony should he undergo trial in Uganda, the Commissioner General of Prisons has said.
"We are capable and prepared to receive Kony. We have both the infrastructure and the intellectual capacity to handle suspects such as those tried by the UN tribunal," Dr. Johnson Byabashaija stated yesterday.
He was responding to a question from the executive director of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, Livingstone Sewanyana, who wondered whether the Prisons had the capacity to hold a suspect of Kony's calibre. This was during the opening of a national conference on Prisons reforms.
Last week, the Principal Judge, James Ogoola stated that the judiciary had the competence and personnel for the proposed special war crimes court that would be created to deal with suspects alleged to have committed crimes during the 22-year LRA insurgency in the northern region.
"We do not need to import judges from elsewhere. We have the manpower we need," he was quoted as saying.
The creation of the special court in the High Court was one of the issues agreed upon by the Government and the rebel delegates at the ongoing peace talks in Juba, South Sudan.
Byabashaija, who said he had visited the International Criminal Court prison where former Liberian president Charles Taylor is held, noted that he would need minor modifications in one of the prisons to hold Kony and others.
According to the Prisons Act 2006, he added, the Prisons are required to ensure that their facilities and treatment of the inmates meet minimum standards as set by the UN.
The chairperson of Uganda Human Rights Commission, Mrs. Margaret Sekaggya, who opened the meeting, stressed the importance of educating prison warders to observe the rights of inmates.
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