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Byanyima rushes to court over Besigye detention; AG explains delayed release

Winnie Byanyima in a recent interview with NBS
Winnie Byanyima in a recent interview with NBS

This morning, Hon. Winnie Byanyima, wife of Col Dr Kizza Besigye through her legal team led by Abubaker Ssekanjako from Lukwago & Co. Advocates, filed an application for habeas corpus before the High Court’s Civil Division.

The application seeks to compel the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Prisons to present Dr Besigye and Hajj Obeid Lutale before the High Court, either dead or alive, and explain why they have not been released.

According to Ssekanjako, the basis of this legal move is last Friday’s Supreme Court ruling, which declared that the General Court Martial lacks jurisdiction to try civilians and ordered the transfer of all civilian cases to civil courts.

 However, despite the ruling, the government has yet to comply.

“The Commissioner of Prisons is still holding onto our clients, which is in total violation of the constitutional order. The prison can only detain a person for whom they have a valid warrant. 

“The warrant upon which our clients were being held at Luzira was from the Court Martial, and that warrant expired on Monday when they were supposed to appear,” Ssekanjako stated.

Attorney General Cites Bureaucratic Delays

Meanwhile, in Parliament today, Deputy Attorney General Jackson Kafuuzi addressed concerns over the delay in implementing the Supreme Court’s ruling. 

He acknowledged the urgency of the matter but emphasised that procedures must be followed.

“I do understand the anxiety and the need to know what is going on following the Supreme Court decision. I want you to understand that there are processes to be followed,” Kafuuzi told Parliament.

He further explained that while the Supreme Court directed that all civilian cases be transferred from the Court Martial, the Attorney General’s office has yet to receive an official copy of the transfer list from the military courts.

“If the army court was to make the file transfers, they would copy us in, but we have not received that copy, and I cannot stand here and claim to know because we do not have that transfer list. We do not know how fast it is being worked on, but we shall continue engaging with the Court Martial and others to ensure that this judgement is put in effect,” he added.

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