James Akena, a photojournalist with Reuters moves in a wheelchair following last year’s attack by soldiers who were quelling city protests by opposition political actors.
The military frogged on a couple of journalists and clobbered them to pulp even after identifying themselves.
On Thursday frail Akena took to his Facebook page and posted two pictures while he is confined in a wheelchair.
“Finally their brutality last August lands me on a wheelchair,” he captioned the pictures.
Earlier he dragged the attorney general to court seeking damages of shs 100 million over alleged torture by the military.
Akena was among journalists captured on camera by fellow journalists being battered by Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) soldiers in downtown Kampala on August 20, 2018, while covering city protests.
The video and photos of Akena’s battering while kneeling on his knees went viral on social media – with the government, first dismissing the photos as “fake” and later saying the soldiers in the footage appeared to be from West Africa and not Ugandan soldiers. President Yoweri Museveni later on said that when he sought for an explanation from the army, he was told that Akena had been beaten because the soldiers mistook him to be a camera thief because he couldn’t easily be identified as a journalist.
Brigadier Richard Karemire, the ministry of Defense and Veteran Affairs/UPDF spokesperson, issued a statement regretting the incident. Akena has now filed an application before the Civil Division of the High court through his lawyers of AF Mpanga seeking damages to the tune of Shs 100 million.
In his application, Akena says that he was beaten by soldiers on August 20, 2018 while on duty as a photojournalist. Akena alleges that at around 11 am one year ago, he was attracted by people going about their business around Kiseka Market at the intersections of Kyagwe Road/Nakivubi Road in Kampala as they were hiding and running for safety.
He reportedly started taking pictures of the events including those where several UPDF and policemen were firing live rounds of ammunition in the air while dispersing a demonstration protesting the arrest of Kyadondo East MP, Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine.
According to Akena, a group of soldiers descended on him and started battering him. He explains that the soldiers assaulted him, forcefully confiscated his camera and took Shs 3.9 million that he had in his pocket.
