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UGANDA: JAILED OPPOSITION LEADER, BESIGYE MAY BE RELEASED TODAY December 19, 2005

Apunyu Bonny

(SomaliNet) Uganda’s opposition leader, Kizza Besigye may be released today Monday 19th or later this week. Senior cabinet and military sources have confirmed.

According to daily monitor in Kampala, the sources said over the weekend that the military General Court Martial is likely to grant Dr. Besigye bail in respect of the charges of terrorism and unlawful possession of firearms.

Besigye is also facing charges of treason, concealment of treason, and rape in the High Court. Hearing of the treason trial is scheduled to start today before Justice John Bosco Katutsi.

The High Court had already granted Besigye temporary bail in respect of the treason and rape charges, but he remains on remand in Luzira because of the two charges before the army court. That trial had also been scheduled to begin today.

The jailed leader of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) was nominated for 2006 presidential polls in absentia last week.

In what has been described as increased internal pressure, the government is set to drop the charges against Besigye in the military court, whose legality and legitimacy he has challenged in the Constitutional Court.

However, the option of withdrawing the charges remained complicated because it was pegged to Besigye’s lawyers withdrawing the petition they have filed in the Constitutional Court challenging the legitimacy of the Court Martial and the legality of his double trial.

Another camp within the government has pushed the option of the army court offering Besigye bail. However, this has also been complicated by the fact that the High Court earlier this month issued an interim order stopping the Court Martial from proceeding with Besigye’s case until the Constitutional Court has pronounced itself on the matter. Moreover, Besigye and his lawyers have refused to recognize the jurisdiction of the Court Martial and will therefore not file a bail application before Gen. Elly Tumwine, the GCM chairman.