Uganda's powerful army chief boasted on Monday of his intention to inflict "suffering and pain" on an opposition politician he arrested who was preparing to file a complaint against him.
Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the son of long-time President Yoweri Museveni, posted on X a picture of Erias Lukwago, an opposition politician and lawyer arrested earlier in the day by the military.
"I am proud of ALL the suffering and pain I will inflict on the CRIMINAL LUKWAGO!", Kainerugaba posted to his 1.3 million followers on X.
He keeps saying 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry'. It won't do him any good now," he wrote next to the photo of Lukwago, who was wearing a white t-shirt.
Another photo shows a man dressed in the same way, in front of the same tiled wall, his face covered with a cloth and his hands clasped together as if in supplication.
In a previous post on X, Kainerugaba had stated that he had "captured an idiot and taken him to the basement," without naming Lukwago.
He wrote in another post: "He summoned me? How dare you utter those words," adding: "That fool will learn his lesson."
"Punching bag"
Lukwago represents one of Museveni's main critics, Kizza Besigye, who has been in custody awaiting trial since his abduction in Kenya in 2024.
Besigye has not been tried and his family accuses the Ugandan state of torturing him.
Lukwago was preparing to serve legal documents summoning Kainerugaba — who has made no secret of his desire to succeed his father — regarding the abduction of Besigye, according to the People's Freedom Front (PFF) party.
Early Monday morning, a relative of Lukwago told AFP that "soldiers jumped over the gate, violently pushed him into the van and left."
"They didn't tell us where they were taking him," he added.
The army chief is known for his provocative online posts and has previously been accused of kidnapping figures close to the opposition.
"It is Amin's regime that is being reborn through Muhoozi," Lukwago's wife, Zawedde Lubwama Lukwago, told reporters, referring to the brutal dictator Idi Amin who ruled Uganda in the 1970s.
"My husband is a respected lawyer who has committed no crime," she said.
Human rights activist Agather Atuhaire said the incident illustrated the "impunity" enjoyed by the authorities.
"We now have a government that not only breaks the law and commits atrocities of this kind, but boasts and glorifies itself for having committed them," she said.
"In other areas where there are... abuses of the law or whatever, at least people hide it, because they know it's wrong or because they know there can be consequences."
Last year, Kainerugaba posted a message regarding the kidnapping of opposition politician Bobi Wine's head of security, claiming they had used him "as a punching bag".
Wine, who lost the presidential election to Museveni earlier this year, condemned the "violent abduction" of Lukwago.
The politician, now in exile, had already received death threats from Kainerugaba.
