KAMPALA- The Uganda peoples’ Front for Freedom leader Rt. Col Dr. Kiiza Besigye has been remanded to Luzira prison on charges relating to security and unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition.
Besigye is charged together with a one Hajji Obed Lutale with whom he was arrested with on the 16th/ November in Nairobi Kenya and brought back to Uganda.
Today at bout 1pm, the 2 have been driven to the court martial amidst tight security where their party members have been waiting.
The duo has arraigned before a seven member court chaired by Brig. Gen Freeman Mugabe who ruled that the pair is properly charged before the court martial by virtue of section 117.
Besigye a resident of Nangabo sub-county in Kisangani and Hajji Lutale a resident of Mutundwe had challenged their trial before the military court on grounds that they are not serving army officers.
After 15 minutes break, the two were brought back to the Dock to listen and plead to the charges.
The Army prosecutors lead by Reaphel Mugisha state that between October 2023 and November 2024 in the cities of Athens in Greece, Geneva in Switzerland and Nairobi in Kenya, Besigye and Hajji Obed Lutale held meetings to fundraise and mobilise resources against the security of Uganda.
The two have also faced three other counts of unlawful possession of two pistols and eight rounds of ammunitions which were allegedly found on them on arrest at Riverside apartments in Kenya on 16th / November.
According to prosecution the firearms and the ammunitions are a monopoly of the armed forces.
Besigye and Lutale have each denied the 4 counts that their lawyer Elias Lukwago calls defective as the court Martial’s jurisdiction does not extend to the military laws of Kenya.
Lukwago has stated that the 2 suspects entered Kenya legally and were cleared by immigration officers but there is no record that they either broke any laws of Kenya or over stayed their visa to warrant an extradition or a deportation.
Lukwago adds that as of now, the law presumes the suspects are still in Nairobi and have not yet been cleared back to Uganda. He therefore asked Brig. Mugabe to dismiss the charges and set the two Men free.
The two have now been remanded to Luzira prison till 2nd/ December for mention of the case and for a ruling.
This is not the first time for Dr. Besigye to be court martialled as the 4 time presidential candidate was arraigned before the same Court in 2006 on charges of Treason, raoe and concealment of Treason.
The said charges were however dropped.
