Four Ugandan soldiers previously attached to African Union have been sentenced to jail terms between 15 to 19 years after a Martial apeal court in Kampala dropped death sentence against the four.
Captain Charles Asiimwe and Corporal Edison Bwambale were among the five Ugandan soldiers convicted of seven counts of murder by a General Court Martial sitting in Mogadishu in November 2021.
Asiimwe and Bwambale were sentenced to death, while the remaining three soldiers – Corporal Alexander Babu, Lance Corporal Phillip Ichumar and Private Kerere Tushemereirwe – were each sentenced to 39 years in prison.
These who include Captain Charles Asiimwe, CPL Edison Bwambale, Lance CPL Phillip Ichumar, and Pte Kerere Tushemereirwe, committed the offense on 10th August 2021 when they were deployed to take food supplies to a friendly force at the Beldamin post in Somalia. On their way, they detected an improvised explosive device in the middle of the road.
Seven civilians were arrested after the incident and under the orders of Captain Charles Asiimwe they were shot dead and thereafter, their bodies were blown up with the explosive devices.
While sentencing them a panel of four members of the Court Martial Appeal Court led by Justice Elly Turyamubona set aside the death sentence based on the circumstances under which the offense was committed considering the highly risky areas of operation they were working in.
The Court observed the environment in which the offense was committed and concluded that mistakes of operational nature could and are likely to occur there.
