Human Rights Network for Journalist-HRNJ has vowed to stand by Journalist Andrew Lwanga, to appeal the sentence handed to former Old Kampala Divisional Police Commander, Joram Mwesigye.
On Friday, Buganda Road Chief Magistrate, Gladys Kamasanyu found Mwesigye guilty of assaulting Lwanga.
In her ruling, Kamasanyu fined Mwesigye Shillings 1Million and ordered him to pay Lwanga Shillings 5 million in 30 days or face a 1yr jail sentence.
Mwesigye assaulted Andrew Lwanga, a former WBS TV journalist in January 2015 near Bakuli road-junction in Old Kampala where he had gone to cover a procession by Unemployed Youths of Uganda (UYU). The youth had decided to walk to Naguru police headquarters to petition the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kale Kayihura over what they termed as “unlawful arrests and harassment by police.”
However, the ruling by Kamasanyu has not gone down by members of the media fraternity. Robert Ssempala, the HRNJ-Uganda National Coordinator, says the court sentence handed out to Mwesigye is very light.
