Uganda: Sportsman guilty in 1 sodomy case, not in 2nd

Colin Stewart is a 45-year journalism veteran living in Southern…

carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature; — Chris Mubiru (Photo courtesy of The Observer)

A Ugandan court today convicted high-profile Uganda sports figure Chris Mubiru of drugging a young man to have sex with him, but acquitted him of sodomy in a separate consensual same-sex encounter.

Mubiru is the former manager of the Ugandan national football (soccer) team, the Cranes, and of the Sports Club Villa football team. He has denied all charges, stating, “I have never, at any one time in my life, committed sodomy acts.”

In 2012, the notorious Ugandan tabloid Red Pepper published photos of Mubiru, apparently in sexual encounters with men, reportedly taken from a laptop computer that was stolen from him.

Chief magistrate Flavia Nabakooza of the Buganda Road court in Kampala found Mubiru guilty in connection with a sexual encounter with a young man that occurred in December 2009. One of the potential charges that Mubiru faced was “defilement” by attempting to perform a sexual act with someone below the age of 18. Defilement is punishable by 18 years in prison on conviction under Section 129 of the Penal Code.

Ugandan newspapers reported that Mubiru faces a possible 18-year sentence, but they also said he was facing conviction under Section 145 of Uganda’s Penal Code, having “carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature,” which can lead to a life sentence.

Mubiru had been free on bail pending the outcome of the trial. After the conviction, his bail was revoked and he was sent to Luzira Maximum Security Prison.

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The court scheduled sentencing of Mubiru for Sept. 18.

Under the terms of Section 145 of Uganda’s Penal Code Act of 1950, same-sex intimacy is punishable by as much as life in prison, whether the relationship is consensual or not. The law has rarely, if ever, been imposed in recent years, with one prominent exception — in late 2013, when the separate, harsh Anti-Homosexuality Bill was before parliament, and in 2014, when it was enacted. The Constitutional Court overturned the Anti-Homosexuality Act in August 2014 because parliament did not have a quorum when it was voted in.