The High
Court Criminal Division has dismissed the bail application of Dr. Kizza Besigye
and Samuel Lubega Mukaaku.
The application was dismissed on Thursday by Justice Tadeo Asiimwe on grounds
that it was prematurely brought before the High Court. He said that the applicants
ought to have either filed a fresh application before Buganda Road Court Grade
One Magistrate or the Chief Magistrates Court.
On June 15, Besigye and Mukaaku were arraigned before the Buganda Road
Magistrates Court presided over by Grade One Magistrate Asuman Muhumuza and
charged with inciting violence before they were remanded to Luzira Prison.
The charges stemmed from a protest held along Nakivubo Lane in Shauriyako
Parish in Kampala City against the skyrocketing prices of different basic
commodities.
Besigye and Mukaaku were however two days later returned to Court
and applied for bail which Muhumuza denied on grounds that he could not
guarantee that the two shall not commit the same charges once released.
Muhumuza
argued that Buganda Road Court had less than two weeks prior to his
decision granted bail to the two accused persons on similar charges, only
to return to court in a period of less than two weeks on the same
charges.
Besigye and Mukaaku through their lawyers led by Samuel Muyizzi Mulindwa,
Ivan Bwowe, and Ernest Kalibala applied for bail in the High Court.
The lawyers indicated that the Magistrates Court wrongfully denied bail to
their clients based on a track record of unprosecuted cases opened
against them by the State most of which are reportedly brought in bad
faith.
According to the lawyers, this was in bad faith and amounted to political
persecution. Muyizzi cited Capital offenses such as rape and treason
cases leveled against Besigye in 2005 and 2016 respectively but the
State did not proceed to prosecute them to their logical conclusion.
Muyizzi thus argued that Mukaaku and Besigye have substantial sureties who will
be able to make sure that they return to Court as and when required.
The lawyer presented Kampala Capital City Deputy Lord Mayor Doreen
Nyanjura, former Rukungiri Municipality Member of Parliament Roland
Mugume, and Besigye's partner Engineer Winnie Byanyima as Besigye's
sureties.
Mukaaku's sureties were Buikwe South MP Dr. Lulume Bayiga, Kitgum Municipality
MP Denis Onekalit, and former Mbale District Woman MP Aspirant Margaret Wokuri
Madanda.
But the State Attorney Isaiah Wanamama had no objection to the sureties but
asked the Court to dismiss the application and send it back to the lower Court.
According to
Wanamama, the application was prematurely before the High Court because
the laws governing the Magistrates Court indicate that should one be denied
bail, one can apply to the Chief Magistrate as the supervisor of the
Magistrates Court.
Wanamama
said if the High Court grants Mukaaku and Besigye bail, it will be the first
case in their records to have succeeded after skipping the Chief Magistrates Court.
Asiimwe said
that Mukaaku and Besigye did not follow the administrative hierarchy of the
courts of law. He indicated that granting them bail, would amount to
the interference of the judicial processes and cause an unnecessary backlog in the
High Court.
Justice Asiimwe advised appealing to the Chief Magistrate if they are still interested
in bail.
Mukaaku and Besigye were further remanded to Luzira Prison.
The lawyers led by Abdullah Kiwanuka said that they are going back to Buganda
Road Chief Magistrate’s Court as advised by the High Court.
//Cue in: "I'm telling you...
Cue out:
...justice for them".//
