Uganda: accused of cyber-harassing president, activist Stella Nyanzi acquitted

Text by: RFI Follow

In Uganda, a judge acquitted academic and feminist activist Stella Nyanzi on February 20, convicted last August of having “cyber-harassed” the family of President Museveni. A court of first instance sentenced her to a year and a half in prison for remarks deemed "obscene" targeting Yoweri Museveni and his mother on Facebook.

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In Uganda, the High Court quashed the judgment of the court of first instance which had convicted activist and writer Stella Nyanzi after a trial described as "a comedy of errors ".

Justice Henry Peter Adonyo noted, inter alia, that none of the 19 defense witnesses had been called. In the crowded courtroom, when Stella Nyanzi understood that the judge had acquitted her, she sent him a kiss.

On leaving the court, the ex-journalist was immediately surrounded by women who passed him a scarf that read " Nique oppression ". Then, prison guards fired into the air to disperse the crowd and bring Stella Nyanzi manu militari to Luzira prison to settle the details of her release.

Museveni "illegal president"

When she left for good, Stella Nyanzi told the press, cheering on her supporters, that Yoweri Museveni, " illegal president " of Uganda, must leave power.

Some of them brandished the poems that Stella Nyanzi wrote in prison. One of the texts says: " The poems of the oppressed will oppress the oppressors. Poems will set us free . ”

► Also read : Uganda: activist Stella Nyanzi on trial for poem published on Facebook

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