Besigye, Lutale missing in court; hearing of state witnesses postponed

The Kampala High Court on Thursday afternoon sat ready to listen to the first witnesses lined up against Col Dr Kizza Besigye, Obeid Lutale Capt Denis Oola, in the charges of treason and misprision of treason 

But as the session opened a few minutes past midday, only Capt Oola was brought to court, while Dr Besigye and Lutale were absent.

The defence lawyers led by Counsel Martha Karua immediately raised concerns about the absence of the suspects, stressing to the court that the proceedings could not carry on.

“I notice that only A 3 is in court. We accompanied a lawyer to the (court) cell and confirmed that A1 and A2 were not there."

"I don't know what the Prisons’ explanation is but I know that the constitution does not allow proceedings in the absence of the accused person, especially article 28 (5). The court therefore cannot proceed,” said Karua

When pressed to explain their absence in court, ASP Emmanuel Muhiire from the Uganda Prisons Services informed the court that both Besigye and Lutale did not come because they “cited pending issues with their lawyers.”

Regarding this claim, the defence team told court that on Wednesday, they travelled to Luzira Prisons to discuss with their clients about the evidence tabled by the state prosecution , but were “unable to interview our clients without interference from Uganda Prisons Services.”

The prison officials, they said, constantly tried to listen in to the conversions between them and the accused persons 

“There was no confidentiality, no privacy and this privilege was prevented by the overzealous prison warders and that was misconduct on behalf of the prisons,” the team noted.

Counsel Erias Lukwago declined to divulge details of the alleged “pending issues” in the absence of the clients 

“We cannot proceed to deal with those issues in the absence of the clients,” he said.

In his ruling, Justice Baguma said the court could indeed not proceed without the accused persons.

He adjourned  the hearing to June 30th, issuing a production warrant to have the two suspects brought in court on that day.