Uganda Court Dismisses First “Aggravated Homosexuality” Case
The defendant, jailed since August 2023, suffered a mental breakdown after lengthy detention, prompting a magistrate to dismiss the case.
A Ugandan court has dropped a case against the first man in the country to be prosecuted for “aggravated homosexuality,” a charge that carries the death penalty under Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act.
The defendant, who was 20 years old at the time of his arrest on August 15, 2023, was allegedly discovered by police around midnight with a 41-year-old man at Soroti Sports Ground in eastern Uganda. Both men were arrested, taken to Soroti Central Police Station, and accused of engaging in “unlawful sexual intercourse,” an allegation the 20-year-old denied. Police claimed they caught the two men half-naked.
Later that day, police released the 41-year-old, claiming he was unable to consent to sexual activity due to his “mental status.” A spokesperson for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution said the man was “living with a disability,” though the 20-year-old’s lawyers told Amnesty International that police provided no evidence to support that claim.
Lawyers for the 20-year-old said police conducted anal examinations on the alleged “victim” while he was in custody — a practice used in some African and Asian countries to purportedly “prove” same-sex conduct, despite being based on junk science.
The 20-year-old was held in police custody until August 18, when he was taken to Soroti Chief Magistrates Court and remanded to prison. He was subsequently charged with “aggravated homosexuality,” beginning a legal process that would stretch on for more than two years. Prosecutors later amended the indictment, charging him with “carnal knowledge against the order of nature,” an offense punishable by life imprisonment under Uganda’s penal code.
On February 2, a magistrate discontinued the case after finding “that the accused is of unsound mind after a long detention on remand,” the man’s lawyer, Douglas Mawadri, told Reuters. The ruling was delivered orally in court, with a written decision to be issued at a later date.
A spokesperson for Uganda’s judiciary declined comment when approached by Reuters.
Ugandan LGBTQ activist Richard Lusimbo told Agence France-Presse that the dismissal was a “major breakthrough which should have come out earlier,” adding that “detaining someone for over a year without trial is injustice at its worst.”
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