By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
KAMPALA
The General Court Martial has remanded to Luzira Prison Veteran politician, Dr. Kizza Besigye , until tomorrow (Tuesday, January 14, 2025), after he declined to plead to new charges of treachery that were added on his charges.
Appearing before the court on Monday, Besigye and his defense team said the General Court Martial lacks jurisdiction to try civilians for offenses allegedly committed outside Uganda. This was after the UPDF Prosecutor, Col. Raphael Mugisha requested court to amend the charge sheet and add a new suspect, Captain Dennis Ola, a serving officer with the UPDF Armory Brigade, as a co-accused.
“Facts revealed that a serving UPDF officer is connected to the offence,” he said. “Intend to amend by adding another count of treachery.”
According to Mugisha, this was done to effectively administer justice and hold parties accountable.
Besigye’s lawyers, Erias Lukwago and Martha Karua, first protested the amendment and court was adjourned for 10 minutes, but later objected to the amendments.
“We object to the amendment of the charge sheet. This is meant to pre-empt the ruling on jurisdiction,” said Martha Karua.
Besigye however, declined to take plea of the charges arguing that the court lacks territorial jurisdiction to try offenses committed beyond Uganda’s borders.
The lawyers said the chargesheet alleges the offenses took place in Greece, Switzerland, and Kenya, where the accused were found with weapons purportedly monopolized by the Ugandan defense forces. According to them, weapons can only be considered a monopoly within the country where that monopoly exists. Therefore, weapons found in Kenya, Switzerland, and Greece cannot be considered a Ugandan monopoly.
Besigye disputed the legality of his arrest in Kenya and subsequent extradition to Uganda, claiming it did not follow due process. He challenged that the Ugandan Justice Minister, Nobert Mao should have contacted the Kenyan government to facilitate his handover something that was not done.
His lawyers have requested court to strike out the charge sheet due to its defects. However, this was out rightly rejected by the prosecution claiming that there were clear inter-state arrangements to deport Dr. Besigye and his colleague Hajji Obeid Lutale.
The court then adjourned the matter to tomorrow Tuesday, January 14, 2025. There are also plans for the defense team to appeal to the charges but Besigye insists he is assigned to receive part of the rulings.
