Ugandan opposition figure Besigye collapses in the dock during treason trial

What the report says

ABC News, citing Associated Press reporting by Rodney Muhumuza, reported that Ugandan opposition politician Kizza Besigye appeared to collapse in a Kampala courtroom on Wednesday during his treason trial. Besigye, 69, reportedly shouted “stop” repeatedly before falling backward in the dock, after which proceedings were postponed while prison guards attended to him.

Besigye has been held without bail for several months and has repeatedly been refused release, according to the report. Prosecutors have recently sought to introduce evidence they say will show that Besigye and others planned to overthrow President Yoweri Museveni’s government. His lawyer, Erias Lukwago, has also been arrested and charged over alleged failure to report treason-related acts.

The case has drawn wider attention because Besigye’s wife, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima, and his supporters say his health is deteriorating. His People’s Front for Freedom party said he needs access to a doctor of his choosing rather than only government-appointed medical staff at the maximum-security facility where he is detained. The party also said no prison doctors were present in court.

ABC/AP reported that Besigye disappeared in Nairobi in November 2024 and later appeared before a military tribunal in Kampala on national security charges. The matter was later moved to civilian court and amended to treason, an offense that carries the death penalty in Uganda. Besigye, a former Museveni ally, became one of the president’s most prominent critics and ran for president four times, most recently in 2016.