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President defiant against court martials ruling

Publish date: 03 February 2025
Issue Number: 1111
Diary: IBA Legalbrief Africa
Category: Uganda

Uganda's President has condemned a Supreme Court ruling that civilians cannot be tried in military court, while the army said it would continue court martialling ex-presidential candidate Kizza Besigye. Besigye was once President Yoweri Museveni's trusted personal doctor but has become a government target since joining the opposition 25 years ago and unsuccessfully running for President four times, notes RFI. He was abducted in November and has been facing the death penalty on treason charges in a court martial. The country's Chief Justice ruled on Friday it was unconstitutional for civilians to be tried in military courts, raising hopes Besigye's treason trial might be halted. ‘I was sorry to hear of the wrong decision by the Supreme Court’, President Yoweri Museveni said on X. Uganda ‘cannot and will not abandon this useful instrument for stability’, he said. ‘Armed illegal operators should be tried, initially, in military courts to protect the society,’ he added. Army spokesperson Chris Magezi said: ‘Under no circumstances will Colonel Kizza Besigye be released until he faces the full extent of martial law.’ ‘The general court martial will continue to try anyone who conspires to murder the President, commits armed rebellion against Uganda and engages in terrorism against the people of Uganda,’ Magezi said. Politician Medard Sseggona told AFP it was ‘an indication of breakdown of the rule of law in Uganda’. ‘We have seen of recent the military taking over civilian authority and overthrowing the constitutional order,’ he added.

The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) and Lawyers for Lawyers (L4L) said the summary conviction and sentencing to nine months' imprisonment for contempt of court by the military court for Ugandan human rights lawyer Eron Kiiza was of grave concern. Legalbrief reports that in a joint statement (see banner above), they said Kiiza was arrested at the General Court Martial on 7 January, while attending to Besigye, his client. 'On 7 January, Eron Kiiza was blocked by a soldier from accessing the bar to join other defence counsel for Dr Besigye and Mr Lutale’s case. It is reported that following a heated exchange, he was manhandled and violently arrested in the courtroom by military personnel and detained in the dock with his clients, before being removed from the courtroom on the orders of the General Court Martial chairman, Brigadier General Robert Freeman Mugabe. Further reports state he was taken to the court’s holding cell where he was tortured and severely beaten by military officers, including being punched and kicked causing injuries and swelling all over his body including his chest, knees, knuckles, and head, for which he is receiving medical treatment. Without any formal charges having been laid against him – denying him the right to plead to the charge, and without any hearing – the General Court Martial Chairman then proceeded to deliver the court’s ruling on Advocate Kiiza’s case, ...'. They said the circumstances of Kiiza’s arrest, detention, and summary conviction by a military tribunal, raise grave concerns regarding his right to liberty and his right to a fair hearing, protected under Articles 23, 28, and 44 of the Ugandan Constitution. 'The blocking of Advocate Kiiza from representing his client and conducting his professional duties as a legal practitioner, seemingly associating him with his client’s cause, and his subsequent violent arrest and summary conviction by a military tribunal as a civilian, also raise concerns of contraventions of the UN Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary, and the UN Principles Governing the Administration of Justice Through Military Tribunals. L4L and IBAHRI called for among other things, the Ugandan judiciary to respect the rule of law and determine Kiiza’s subsequent proceedings in accordance with international fair trial standards; and for the Supreme Court to expeditiously deliver its long awaited judgment in the case of Attorney-General vs Michael Kazibaguruka, pending which the execution of the Constitutional Court decision prohibiting the trial of civilians in military tribunals has been stayed.

See A Matter of Justice below

Full RFI report

The Supreme Court held that military courts lack jurisdiction to try civilians and ordered officials to halt all ongoing military trials of civilians and transfer them to the country’s civilian court system, but stopped short of declaring past convictions under the military courts void. Human Rights Watch reports that for years, military courts have tried hundreds of civilians, including political opponents and government critics. The trials have often fallen short of domestic and international standards, violating the right to a fair trial and freedoms guaranteed by Uganda’s Constitution. The 2005 Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) Act established military courts to try offences committed by people ‘subject to military law’. Military officials, who are not required to have legal qualifications, are appointed by a military leadership committee to administer these courts. Under the UPDF Act, the court may sentence a person to death. Human Rights Watch found in 2011 that the trials of hundreds of civilians convicted by these courts for alleged armed crime and cattle rustling in the northeastern Karamoja subregion did not meet international standards of competence, independence and impartiality, and routinely violated the right of accused people to present a defence as well as their right against self-incrimination. There were also credible allegations of torture of accused people. Critics of the military trials of civilians, including lawyers, have faced harassment and arrests. On 7 January, a military court sentenced Besigye’s lawyer, Eron Kiiza, to nine months in prison without a trial or legal representation for contempt of court following an altercation in the court.

Full Human Rights Watch report

At the time of publishing, the General Court Martial had neither reconvened nor were Besigye and his aide Obeid Lutale brought before it today. The Monitor reports that the president of the National Economic Empowerment Dialogue (NEED) Joseph Kabuleta and former Rubaga South MP Ken Lukyamuzi were among the opposition leaders who showed up at the court but were denied access. ‘What brings me here today is to see if the Supreme Court ruling is going to be respected. This is because as soon as the Supreme Court verdict, the President came out with something different, an opinion and so did his son and it looked like there was a bit of a controversy,’ Kabuleta said. He added: ‘I wanted to see if Dr Kizza Besigye was going to be brought here and officially discharged from this court which was declared unconstitutional to try civilians like himself. ...’ The fate of Besigye and Lutale was still unclear and they remained in custody as of earlier today.

Full report in The Monitor

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