(RSF/IFEX) – Vincent Matovu, managing editor of the local Luganda-language weekly “Mazima”, has been held on remand in Luzira prison since 6 January 2003, in connection with the publication of two articles concerning the war between rebel groups and government forces in the north of the country. “This case demonstrates once again that journalists are […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Vincent Matovu, managing editor of the local Luganda-language weekly “Mazima”, has been held on remand in Luzira prison since 6 January 2003, in connection with the publication of two articles concerning the war between rebel groups and government forces in the north of the country.
“This case demonstrates once again that journalists are not free to publish their analyses of the conflict between the rebel groups and government forces,” RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard noted in a letter to Information Minister Basoga Nsadhu. The organisation quoted from a report by United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression Abid Hussain, published on 18 January 2000, in which he called upon “all governments to ensure that prison sentences are no longer handed out for media offences, apart from racist or discriminatory comments or incitement to violence.” Hussain had added, “as punishment for the peaceful expression of an opinion, a prison sentence constitutes a serious human rights violation.” While not wishing to comment on the facts of the case, RSF asked the minister to do his utmost to ensure that the journalist be released and granted a fair trial.
Matovu is accused of sedition for having reported in two articles, published in October and November 2002, that Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels had killed thousands of Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) soldiers and taken over the Pader and Kapchorwa districts (in the north and the east of the country). After appearing before a Kampala court, where he denied the charges brought against him, Matovu was remanded in custody on 6 January. He is being held in Luzira prison, near Kampala. The measures taken against him prevented “Mazima”‘s publication in the last week of December. Matovu’s case is to be heard on 21 January.
RSF recalls that three journalists from the daily “The Monitor” appeared before the courts in October, charged with publishing “false information endangering national security”, after the publication of an article on the conflict between rebel and government forces in the country’s northern region (see IFEX alerts of 18, 16, 15 and 11 October 2002). The police occupied the newspaper’s premises and prevented its publication for one week.
