The proprietor of Pacific Hotel in Arua where Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi and others were brutally arrested has claimed that security operatives, mostly Special Forces Commandos stole property belonging to customers and beat up clients.
Special forces Commander Brig. General Don Nabaasa (pictured up) could not be reached for a comment.
Mr. Luigi Candia appealed to the police to stop lying and tell the public the truth. He said that during the searches on Monday night, the hotel lost sh3m while a customer lost sh700,000. “Why did they first break down the 22 downs of the hotel rooms,” Mr Candia questioned.
Next door at Royal Hotel where some of Bobi Wine’s team slept, sh80m was allegedly lost when the Police and army besieged the hotels. The ownrs now ant compensation for the damage caused. Candia estimates the property damaged was worth over sh8om.
“Some of my clients lost laptops from their hotel rooms during the fracas when the army and Police beat up people,” he claimed. On the issue of the death of Bobi Wine’s driver Yasin Kawuma, Luigi said the driver was not shot near the hotel. He said the vehicle was driven and parked near the hotel when the driver was bleeding. He died later.
Kyagulanyi, was on Thursday charged before the Army Court Martial in Gulu with illegal possession of fire arms and ammunition. He was remanded to Makindye Military Prision until August 23rd. Meanwhile, the Uganda People’s Defense Forces spokesperson Brig Richard Karemire, in a press statement, has said that that Bobi Wine’s family will soon be allowed to visit him.
“For whatever condition Hon Kyagulanyi may be in as a result of the whole Arua fracas, UPDF will ensure that he receives adequate attention and care now that he is under safe custody. His family also will be able to visit him as per established procedure,” the statement reads.
By press time, Kyagulanyi had met his family members on Friday at Makindye barracks. His wife Barbie Kyagulanyi and elder brother Eddie Yawe were accompanied by Kampala lord mayor Erias Lukwago and Human Rights Commission chairperson Med Kagwa.
“We were taken to a particular room and he was carried in by soldiers. He was in tears, he could not talk or stand, face was swollen and he tried to explain to us with a lot of difficulty,” Trumpet News quoted Lukwago as saying.
“All he explains is that they have injected him with certain substances he can’t tell, when we asked why he was injected without his consent, they presented a doctor at a rank of captain who said the injections were pain killers because he was feeling alot of pain. He tried to hug his wife but could not, we could not even embrace him, he was feeling so much pain in the ribs and back. Unfortunately, even the doctor we came with was not allowed to examine him. They told us they will take him to Military hospital for medication,” Lukwago said.
