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Olivia Lutaaya, a National Unity Platform (NUP) supporter and one of the 18 individuals pardoned by President Museveni has spoken out about the trials she endured during her nearly four years in Luzira Prison.
She and her colleagues were released from prison on Friday following a presidential pardon.
These had been convicted of treachery and unlawful possession of ammunition on their own guilty plea.
Four Years in Detention
Following her release, Lutaaya reportedly expressed deep anguish over the years spent in detention for what she describes as fabricated charges.
Posing with David Lewis Rubongoya, Secretary General of NUP, she could barely hold back tears.
At the NUP headquarters where she was received by Rubongoya, Lutaaya was quoted recounting how they secured their freedom.
She revealed that she and her fellow detainees were pressured into pleading guilty under the threat of prolonged imprisonment.
“We were asked to choose between pleading guilty to the charges or rotting in prison. Balaam (Barugahara) approached us in prison and admitted that the charges were trumped up.
"He said we had no choice but to accept them to secure our release.”
Lutaaya reportedly revealed that she and her colleagues were promised jobs, houses, and money to encourage their compliance, though she expressed doubt about these pledges being honoured.
NUP relief
On his part, Mr Rubongoya expressed relief that the party members were free at last.
“As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words,” Rubongoya shared in a statement.
“She cannot make sense of how she's spent four years in detention for no crime whatsoever. The pain, the frustration, and the realisation of what she has lost over the years is overwhelming.”
Lutaaya and her co-accused were arrested after the 2020 general elections, accused of possessing improvised explosive devices and planning acts of treachery.
After nearly four years of remand, they pleaded guilty last month, a decision she attributes to coercion and despair.