Following a number of court hearings for a suspected wildlife trafficker, court in Uganda ruled against the man convicted of illegally trafficking wildlife products and given him a lifetime prison sentence.
The Ugandan Standards, Utilities, and Wildlife Court sentenced Pascal Ochiba to life in prison for illegal possession of wildlife products, including two pieces of elephant ivory weighing a total of 9.55 kilograms.
The ruling is the country’s highest punishment ever given for any wildlife violator.
However, the verdict leaves wildlife officials and human rights activists at odds over whether this nature of crime deserved such a hefty punishment.
Bashir Hangi, the spokesman for the Uganda Wildlife Authority, called Ochiba’s sentencing fair:
“It was befitting. It was deserving. But because it was his business, he couldn’t stop the business. That’s why we revised the law, to make the sentence a little bit biting. And we hope that the judiciary will continue making such heavy punishments even on other offenders.”
Pascal Ochiba had previously been arrested in 2017 for possessing four pieces of ivory and the skin of an Okapi. In that case, he was sentenced to eighteen months in jail for both counts, which he served concurrently.
Livingstone Sewanyana, the executive director for the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, disagrees. “Life in prison should be a punishment which those who ordinarily would be sentenced to death should serve,” Sewanyana said. He urged the court to reconsider.
The difference in sentencing stems from Uganda’s 2019 Wildlife Act. Under the new legislation, violators can face a fine of $5,200, life imprisonment, or both. It does not provide any flexibility in sentencing if the product in question comes from an endangered species, such as elephants.
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