A Ugandan military court ruled that an opponent could be tried for treason Politics News
The move escalates the case against Kizza Besigye as a treason conviction is punishable by the death penalty.
A Ugandan military court has ruled that prominent opposition figure Kizza Besigye can be tried on treason charges, which could carry the death penalty if convicted.
Tuesday’s ruling escalates the legal problems facing Besigye ahead of presidential elections scheduled for 2026.
Besigye, who ran for president four times, disappeared in the capital of Kenya, Nairobi, on November 16.
A few days later, he and his co-accused, an aide named Obeid Lutale, appeared before a military court in Kampala, Uganda’s capital.
Besigye was charged with illegal possession of firearms and a charge related to allegedly seeking military support abroad to destabilize national security.
The leader of the opposition, who rejected the accusations, is in custody in the meantime.
The military prosecutor amended the indictment to include treason and introduce a third suspect, who is a military officer.
Besigye, 68, has faced arrests and attacks many times in his political career. But he was never convicted of a crime.
UK-based Amnesty International called for Besigye’s release, saying his “abduction clearly violated international human rights law and the extradition process with its necessary fair trial protections”.
US-based Human Rights Watch said Besigye’s trial was “the latest example of Ugandan authorities abusing military courts and military-related charges to subdue the opposition”.
President Yoweri Museveni has long been criticized by human rights groups for alleged abuses by opposition figures.
Although Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, is expected to seek re-election, he has not yet confirmed this.
Museveni has no obvious successor in the ranks of the ruling National Resistance Movement, which is creating widespread fears of an unpredictable political transition.
Besigye, a qualified doctor who retired from the Ugandan army with the rank of colonel, is the former president of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).
With Besigye at the helm, the FDC was for years the most prominent opposition group in Uganda.
