Weapons, murder and Besigye: A week of high-stakes courtroom drama

What the report says

Uganda’s High Court and lower courts issued a series of major rulings last week, with the most politically sensitive centred on opposition figure Dr Kizza Besigye’s treason case. According to The Observer, a state witness testified that secret meetings in Switzerland and elsewhere involved talk of weapons, paramilitary training and plans to destabilize the Ugandan government. The evidence described alleged discussions of grenades, drones and an attack on Kampala, alongside claims about an assassination plot and civil unrest. Besigye is on trial with Obeid Lutale and Capt. Denis Oola, and the prosecution says it will rely on recordings, messages and immigration records. The trial is continuing.

Other criminal cases also produced severe sentences. In Soroti, a High Court judge convicted three people in the killing of five-year-old Apio Joan Faith, including the wife of a school director and a detective corporal, and handed down life imprisonment and long prison terms after accepting forensic and witness evidence. In Kampala, two members of the Kabadia gang received another 80 years each for a 2019 boda boda rider murder, added to already lengthy sentences.

The week also included notable civil and procedural rulings. Lawyer Male Mabirizi was granted mandatory bail after spending more than 60 days on remand before trial. In a commercial dispute, businessman Patrick Bitature was ordered to pay more than $256,000 in consultancy fees. In a separate defamation case, advocate Carlton Douglas Kasirye won damages over social media posts that the court found falsely portrayed him as a rapist. These rulings underscore how Uganda’s courts remain a venue for high-profile political, criminal and financial disputes.