Three Police Officers Arrested Over Secret Burial of Congolese Man Who Died in Custody

Three police officers from Nyabwishenya Police Post in Kisoro District and two civilians have been arrested after they secretly buried a Congolese national who died while in custody.

Kigezi Police Spokesperson ASP Elly Maate said the five suspects, now held at Kisoro Police Station, buried Uwimana, 30, on land belonging to Bufumbiro North Member of Parliament Nizeyimana Kamara, without notifying authorities.

According to ASP Maate, the deceased was attacked on the night of May 6, 2026, at around 9:00 pm near a drinking spot by the two civilian suspects and others who remain at large, after he had threatened them. He was then handed over to Nyabwishenya Police Post, where he was charged with threatening violence and locked up.

The following morning, May 7, at around 8:00 am, he was found dead in his cell.

Rather than alerting the District Police Commander and following the required procedures, the two constables and a corporal on duty, together with the two civilians, quietly buried the body under the cover of darkness. When the deceased’s relatives came asking about him, the officers told them he had been released and sent home.

The situation took a sharp turn on Friday, May 8, when a group of Congolese nationals crossed into Uganda and confronted the officers at the post, demanding to know what had happened to their compatriot. Police authorities were forced to step in, and the District Police Commander ordered the arrests. The grave was subsequently discovered, and an exhumation was set in motion to allow for a postmortem.

“As I speak, efforts to exhume the body are underway so that it can be medically examined, after which it will be handed over to the relatives and taken back to the country of origin,” ASP Maate said.

He added that the police force is treating the matter with the utmost seriousness. “As police, we condemn this in the strongest terms, and we are going to do everything possible to investigate this case and establish why these personnel acted the way they did,” he said on Sunday.