Ugandans-At-Heart

Dear Ugandans

This concerns Dr. Henry Gombya and the story he published in the str8chronicle, which I believe many of you have read. I here convey to you my reaction to the story he wrote and published without my prior consent for approval of the contents

The story by Henry Gombya was, in my view wisely distorted. What I wrote to him expressing my disappointment is just the skeleton of the real story. I kept it from the UAH forum because of its sensitivity and the fact that the creators of the problem are heavyweights that I have failed to defeat after all these years.

When I conveyed my disappointment about Gombya’s story to the UAH forum, I expected questions. As I pointed out earlier, the corrections I made about Gombya’s story are just a ‘’skeleton” of the Story.
        Do you remember the article about sports in Uganda that I wrote?

http://ugandansatheart.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/why-is-sport-not-taken-seriously-in-uganda/

I stated that the professional Boxing Promoters are very powerful, so that none messes with them. You mess with one, you’ve messed with them all. However, Germany did not do anything wrong to me. The problems are all from the time I was advised by the Danish police to apply for asylum. Although I gave the police an unregistered telephone number of where I was staying, it is the Danish Boxing Promoter who telephoned me and wanted to sign me under his management. After the advice from a compatriot who was, in my view very kind and honest to me, I turned down the offer for the boxing contract. I did not understand at the time that all the delays and derailments of my requests might be linked to the refusal of the boxing contract. Today, I suspect that the police made a deal with the Boxing Promoter to block my return to Germany, hoping that I would eventually sign a contract to fight for  Denmark.
       There were many disappointments over the years, but always thought that it was bureaucracy to blame. You have read through my mail of correction to Gombya’s story, so that you know a bit of what transpired. The ”Knock out blow” by the Danish police was when they approached me and claimed to ask for my help. They told me that they had checked me out and found that I was the Coordinator for Pan African Forum and President of the Union of Ugandans in Denmark. I had just left the class for the day, at the Danish School of Transport. They told me that if I did not mind, we could discuss the matter at their station. I said that I did not mind. They took me to the Police Headquarters. There, they showed me many photographs of Africans. They asked if I recognized any of them. I told them that I recognized some of them, at least by one name. They told me that those photos are of smugglers of illegal narcotics into Denmark and that’s why they needed my help. I asked how I could be of help. They told me that in my capacity as the Coordinator for the Pan African Forum and President of the Union of Ugandans, I was a well respected person in the African community. That they would take me to a Court Justice to whom I should say that I suspect Africans for smuggling and selling of illegal narcotics in Denmark. By that they said, the Court Justice would give the police authority to ”remove those Africans from the streets”. I told the police that I did not suspect any African because none of those in the photographs is known personally to me. I also said that if I did that, I would be telling lies to the Court Justice and I would later be charged for it. They told me that I should not worry about that because after investigating, the innocent ones would be released. I still told them that it would be wrong to incriminate probably innocent people. They angrily told me that if I did not help them, I would be the one to go to prison. They told me to think about it and left me in the office. After a while, they returned and asked if I had made up my mind. I told them that I had made up my mind. One of the policemen said, ”I knew you would be wise”. I told them that I have decided not to lie to the Court Justice. One of the cops punched me on the head and then lifted me by the shirt collar saying, ”You are going to prison now”. Although the punch on my head was very painful, I thought that they were trying to scare me. I believed that it was impossible simply to throw me into prison without commiting a crime. I was wrong. When I realized that they were serious, I asked to telephone my family. They told me that I had many years to telephone my family from prison. They drove me to the Vester Faengsel (prison). As I was escorted by the prison guard to the cell, I requested to telephone my wife, but I was told that I should have telephoned from the police because they, the guards are very busy. The following morning I was taken to the Court, only the Procecutor to request for my detention for two Weeks in isolation, while they carried on their investigation. The man who had been introduced to me as my Defence Lawyer, was even more aggressive than the police. He did not even ask to know why I was being detained in isolation. He only told me that it was a serious matter. After the Prosecutor made his request to the Judge, the Judge asked ”my Defence Lawyer” if he had any objection. He answered that he did not have any. The Judge then ordered that I be detained for two Weeks in isolation. I raised my hand and the Judge asked if I had something to say. I told him that, ”I was detained yesterday, but have not even communicated with my family”. He ordered that I be given a telephone to call my family. After about half an hour, I was allowed to call my family.
       Anyway, to cut the long story short, I wrote a letter to the Court President requesting to change the Lawyer. I got no response, until I went to Court after the two Weeks in isolation. At the Court, the Judge introduced another Lawyer to me saying that my ”Lawyer is unable to come today due to lots of work”. I told the Judge that I don’t want him, and I have written to the Court President requesting to change my Defence Lawyer. He told me that before I am allowed to change the Lawyer, I should cooperate with the one offered by the Court. The lady Lawyer told me that I would not be released and that if I gave her a chance, she would try to find out why I was being held in prison. The Prosecutor requested for two more Weeks and that was granted.
       On my return to the prison, I was told that I had a letter in the office. It was the letter I had sent to the Court President. There was a response on it that, ”You can not be allowed to change the Lawyer….”
       After about three months, the prosecution brought a Tanzanian woman from prison, as their witness against me in a case that I knew nothing about. That’s when the woman claimed that in the Summer of 1999, she and her former boyfriend met me in Sweden and drove with me back to Dennmark. She claimed that her boyfriend had told her that I had 300 grams of heroin for her boyfriend. She continued to say that they brought me to my ”residence in Tingbjerg, Copenhagen. Asked whether she saw the heroin or heard her boyfriend and I talk about the heroin, she answered that she did not see any heroin and that she did not hear us talk about it. But she said that there was a smell of shit in the car. Asked where the smell came from, she answered that she did not know. Her ”boyfriend” was never brought to testify. I was then found guilty and sentenced to 2 and a half years in prison and expulsion from Denmark. I was shocked. My Defence Lawyer appealed the sentence. We returned to Court about 5 months later. The Tanzanian woman repeated her claims, but with lots of contradictions from her previous claims in the previous Court. She was asked whether she was sure my residence they drove me to was in Tingbjerg, Copenhagen. She replied that she knew the place very well and that she even had friends living there. She was later led out of the Court room. The Prosecutor then told the Court that after the testimony by the witness, I be jailed for a period not less than 3 years and be expelled from Denmark. My Defence Lawyer stood up and handed a document to the Judge and another one to the Prosecutor. She said that the witness for the Prosecution ”is not truthful”. She said that in the Summer of 1999 she, the witness for the Prosecution was in prison and that there was no possibility for her to have travelled to Sweden with her boyfriend. The Lawyer handed another document to the Judge and another one to the Prosecutor. She then said that according to the document from the Housing Company, I ceased to reside in Tingbjerg, Copenhagen on 31st July, 1997 and that it was also not possible that the Prosecution witness and her boyfriend could have taken me to my ”apartment in Tingbjerg, Copenhagen”. However, after that I was found guilty and the sentence from the previous Court was upheld. My Defence Lawyer tried to appeal the sentence, but the appeal was denied. She was subsequently removed from the case.
        I was then transfered to Albertslund Faengsel (prison) where I was supposed to serve my sentence. In January, 2004 I smuggled a letter out of prison to the New African publications. You may find the letter on line in the New African of 1st February, 2004. The police had to warn me against such letters. Prior to the letter to New African I had smuggled a letter out of prison to another Lawyer. The new Lawyer sent a telefax to my former Defence Lawyer requesting for my case file, as he intended to represent me. The former Lawyer wrote him a confidential letter in which she stated that, ”The police has taken the case file to be destroyed”. Whether intentionaly or by mistake,I got a copy of the letter.The new Lawyer tried to reopen the case, but failed. I then sent a letter to the European Court of Human Rights. The Court sent me a document for the Lawyer representing me to sign. My new Lawyer told me that the European Court of Human Rights was not a good idea. He told me that he had sent the case to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. While the UNHRC was investigating the case and communicating with the state of Denmark in this regard, I was released from prison. Later the UNHRC ruled that Denmark ‘’should observe remedy and to make sure that the mistake never happens again in future”. Denmark appealed the decision. The UNHRC replied that, ”there was no Legal basis to appeal the Decision”.
        I waited 2 and a half years for Denmark to correct their mistake, to no avail. Instead I got a letter from the police ordering me to leave my family residence and be detained in Sandholm, north of Copenhagen.
        My coming to the Netherlands was to request the State of the Netherlands to inform the State of Denmark to respect the ruling by the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
        Hopefully, the details will be in the Book planned for the people, especially my children to know what happened, should anything happen to me before the young ones are old enough to understand.
        I know that some of the members of the UAH forum may be asking themselves the same question. Believe it or not, I am not with the habit of, ”an eye for an eye”. I was brought up with the knowledge that one lives peacefully forgiving those who tresspass against him. I have no intention to sue him, but I shall tell him if or when we meet again, that he hurt me very much. You saw the mail I wrote to him expressing my disappointment, but in a brotherly manner. I know that the Dutch family whose hospitality he dishonoured by publishing their photographs in the story that does not concern them, are very unhappy. The man is a Pastor and a Senior Official of Defence. I can not talk on their behalf, but if Gombya has to worry, the publication of that family’s names and photographs without prior consultation, should be enough.
         I thank you for your concern.
                                                                BJ. Rubin.

                                                               UAH Forumist in Europe