High Court gives Gen Muhoozi 7 days to file defence in Besigye lawsuit; lawyers vow to hunt him down with court papers

The High Court in Kampala has given Chief of Defence Forces Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba seven days to file his defence in a human rights enforcement case filed by opposition politician Dr Kizza Besigye and his co-accused, Hajji Obeid Lutale.

The development emerged on Thursday after a scheduled hearing of the treason and misprision of treason case against Dr Besigye, Lutale and Capt Denis Oola failed to proceed.

When proceedings opened before Justice Emmanuel Baguma, only Capt Oola was produced in court. Dr Besigye and Lutale were absent.

Justice Baguma postponed the matter to June 30th and issued a prediction warrant for the accused persons to be brought in court.

In his ruling, the judge also made orders on an earlier human rights enforcement application filed by Besigye and Lutale against Gen Muhoozi, along with two other senior military officers and the Attorney General 

The human rights application accuses Gen Muhoozi, military intelligence officers and the Attorney General of violating their constitutional rights.

The applicants cite several social media posts allegedly made by Gen Muhoozi on X, including one that stated: "We will hang KB on Heroes' Day. That's the best day for him to die."

The defence argues that such statements undermine the presumption of innocence, interfere with the right to a fair hearing and amount to psychological torture.

Besigye and Lutale also accuse security agencies of abducting them from Nairobi, Kenya, and unlawfully transferring them to Uganda. 

They further contend that their initial prosecution before the General Court Martial violated a Supreme Court ruling barring military trials for civilians.

Justice Bagumba ordered Gen Muhoozi to file a defence within seven days.

Counsel Erias Lukwago, while speaking to the press after the court session said they would not embark on hunting down the CDF to serve him with the court papers.

"Starting today we are going to get the notice of motion and start looking for Muhoozi from wherever he is and serve him,” he said.

“We have asked the judge to help us ease the work of finding Gen Muhoozi to serve him," Lukwago added.