Uganda: Gay activist killer sentenced for 30 years

Sidney Nsubuga Enoch (L) the man suspected to have murdered Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato. PHOTO/Daily Monitor/Johnson Mayamba

A Ugandan court has sentenced a man to 30 years in prison for killing a gay rights activist.

A high court judge on Thursday handed down the sentence to 22-year-old Sidney Nsubuga Enoch, who admitted that he bludgeoned David Kato to death with a hammer in January.

Kato’s slaying came only months after his picture was published in an anti-gay newspaper next to the words “Hang Them.”

Enoch said he was provoked by sexual advances that Kato made toward him.

Gay rights activists have blamed an increase in homophobia in Uganda on evangelical preachers.

In May, the Ugandan parliament adjourned without discussing a controversial bill that proposed the death penalty for some homosexual acts.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.