A Ugandan and United Nations judge was imprisoned in Britain for more than 6 years on Friday for requiring a girl to work without pay while the judge studied at the University of Oxford.
Lydia Mugambe, a judge of Uganda’s High Court considering that 2013, was designated in 2023 to be a judge for the UN International Residual System for Wrongdoer Tribunals, which carries out functions of previous tribunals associating with war criminal offenses devoted in Rwanda and the previous Yugoslavia.
District attorneys stated Mugambe, 50, utilized her status in the “most outright method” by fooling a young Ugandan female to come to Britain in 2022 to work as a housemaid without payment.
Mugambe was charged under the UK’s Modern Slavery Show conspiring with John Leonard Mugerwa, then Uganda’s deputy high commissioner, to get the victim into Britain by pushing her visa application.
Mugambe was likewise charged with assisting in travel with a view to exploitation, requiring somebody to work, and conspiracy to frighten her victim to stop her providing proof.
Lydia Mugambe, a UN & Ugandan judge, has actually today been founded guilty of bringing a female into the nation unlawfully & then requiring her to work as a slave.Mugambe attempted to avert justice by declaring she had diplomatic resistance, which has actually now been gotten rid of https://t.co/g0nVYCPBl7 pic.twitter.com/duzVQET6Jk
— Thames Valley Cops (@ThamesVP) March 13, 2025
Ugandan UN judge sentenced to 6 years in jail
She pleaded innocent and informed jurors at Oxford Crown Court that she had actually never ever made use of the female, however was founded guilty of all 4 counts in March. Mugerwa did not deal with trial.
Judge David Foxton sentenced Mugambe to 6 years and 4 months in jail.
” You have actually revealed definitely no regret for your conduct. Rather, you continue, entirely unjustifiably I hesitate, to illustrate yourself as the victim,” Foxton stated.
” As a certified attorney, a Ugandan High Court judge and a United Nations Bad guy Tribunal judge, Lydia Mugambe comprehended the guideline of law and selected to neglect it”, Lynette Woodrow, nationwide lead for contemporary slavery at the Crown Prosecution Service, stated in a declaration.
Uganda’s High Commission in London did not instantly react to an ask for remark.
The International Residual System for Bad guy Tribunals formerly stated it “will take all suitable administrative actions to additional safeguard the stability and the correct and effective performance of the system”.
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