“This judgment risks legitimizing Uganda’s well-documented record of torture instead of eradicating it,” Asiimwe said, adding that the ruling prioritized the completion of criminal trials over the absolute prohibition of torture.
The DNA testing process was conducted by government forensic experts and overseen by Minister Balaam Barugahara. Also present during the release of the results were the Police Forensic Directorate and the Government Analytical Laboratory, including Director Andrew Mubiru and Kepher Kuchana Kateu.
The increased mining activities due to increased demand pose threats in the region, including insecurity posed by different militias who are involved in the illegal mining and human rights abuse such as forced evictions as companies seek to expand their industrial scale copper and cobalt mining projects in the mineral-rich areas.