Court dismisses case against prominent human rights defender Gerald Kankya

Paris-Geneva,May 27, 2015 – The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights defenders(a joint programme of FIDH and the World Organisation against Torture – OMCT),welcomes the decision of Fort Portal's Magistrates Court to dismiss the caseagainst human rights defender Gerald Kankya and urges authorities to stopharassing human rights defenders in Uganda.

Followingthe failure by the prosecution to produce any complainant or witnesses despitesix hearings, on May 20, 2015 the Magistrates Court of Fort Portal dismissedthe case against Mr. Kankya, prosecuted under charges of “simple assault”.Arrested on March 24, 2015 and afterwards releasedon bail, Mr. Kankya was being accused of assaulting a journalist[1].

ExecutiveDirector of the Twerwaneho Listeners Club (TLC), since 2006 Mr. Kankya has beenworking to combat unlawful evictions from public community land. TLC broadcastsweekly programs on human rights education, performs capacity building toenhance the ability of human rights defenders to carry out their activities inthe region, provides civic education, monitors and documents human rightsviolations, and challenges unlawful governmental actions in court.

Lately,TLC has been running a petition campaign to the President Mr. Yoweri Museveniagainst the Queen Mother Best Kemigisa Nursery, Primary and Vocational School,a private commercial project developed on land grabbed from illegalexpropriations. In 2012, Mr. Gerald Kankya received the European Union HumanRights Defender Award in Uganda.

Althoughthe Observatory welcomes the decision taken by the Magistrates Court, itremains concerned as Mr. Kankya and his colleagues at TLC are still the targetof a judicial harassment aiming at preventing them from pursuing their humanrights activities.

Indeed,in a separate case, on January 23, 2015, Messrs. Gerald Kankya and SimonAmanyire were assaulted by approximatively 30 men wearing Queen Mother BestKemigisa Nursery, Primary and Vocational Schools traffic reflectors jackets,armed with clubs and allegedly commanded by the District Police commander Mr.Geoffrey Kahebwa and another police officer. Despite Mr. Kankya’s grievousharm, medically ascertained, the police refused to record his complaint. Inrelation to this incident, Mr. Kankya is being prosecuted for “grave assault”.

On May 27, 2015, the scheduled trial was adjourned,as the police file was missing. The next hearing is scheduled on June 24, 2015.

TheObservatory urges Ugandan authorities to stop harassing Mr. Gerald Kankya andall TLC members, as well as all human rights defenders in Uganda.

TheObservatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (OBS) was created in1997 by FIDH and OMCT. The objective of this programme is to intervene toprevent or remedy to situations of repression against human rights defender.

For more information, please contact:

· FIDH: Arthur Manet/Lucie Kroening: + 33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18

· OMCT: Miguel Martín Zumalacárregui: + 41 (0) 22809 49 24

[1] See Urgent Appeal of the Observatory UGA 001 / 0315 / OBS 024, of March 26,2015.