MADRID Jan. 14 (EUROPA PRESS) –
A Ugandan military court on Monday presented a new charge against prominent opposition figure Kizza Besigye and his political partner, Hajj Obeid Lutale, for treason, a crime for which, if convicted, they would face the death penalty.
According to authorities, Besigye and his partner had information about the intention to attack the country’s security. Lead defense lawyer Martha Karua has opposed the amendment to the charge sheet, maintaining that “the court has no jurisdiction” over Besigye or Lutale.
Prosecutors have also presented a third defendant, identified as Major Denis Ola, a serving soldier assigned to the Army’s Armor Brigade, as reported by the Ugandan television network NTV.
The president of the court, General Freeman Mugabe, has responded that the court has already ruled that it has jurisdiction to try civilians.
The opponent was arrested in November in Kenya, deported to his country and accused of illegal possession of firearms and undermining national security in a military court. Since then, he has been in prison in the capital, Kampala. His wife, Winnie Byanyima, executive director of UNAIDS, has denounced that the charges against him are politically motivated.
Besigye, once an ally of Uganda’s long-serving president, Yoweri Museveni, was already accused of treason in 2005, charges that were finally dropped, as in 2021, when he declared himself the winner of the 2016 elections, in which he denounced electoral fraud. . In 2022, he was arrested several times for his role in protests against rising commodity prices.
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