Besigye Threatens to Stop Coming to Court

Former presidential candidate Dr. Kizza Besigye has threatened to boycott court proceedings, accusing the court and prosecution of treating the defence unfairly in the ongoing treason case against him.

Besigye, his political ally Hajj Obeid Lutale Kamulegeya, and UPDF captain Denis Oola are facing treason charges before the High Court.

The trio, who have been in custody since November 2024, were on Thursday brought before Justice Emmanuel Baguma for case scheduling following a directive issued during their previous court appearance on February 24.

During the session, the defence team raised concerns that the prosecution had failed to comply with a previous court order directing it to disclose all witnesses and evidence to the defence ahead of the trial.

Lead defence lawyer Martha Karua, a former Kenyan justice minister, told court that the defence had come prepared for case scheduling but was surprised to learn that the prosecution had instead filed an application seeking to conceal the identity of a witness.

“What we expected to happen is the scheduling of the case; that is for the court to monitor compliance with disclosure and also to set dates for how the case will proceed,” Karua said.

“We were shocked when we came to court to find an application by the prosecution that they should not disclose the name of a certain witness,” she added.

The defence also protested the manner in which the application was handled, arguing that it had not been properly served to them.

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Karua said the application had been filed only a day earlier and was already scheduled for hearing, yet the defence had not been given adequate notice.

“We had not been served, our clients had not seen the application, and my colleague here, Erias Lukwago, received the documents in his chambers after 6:30pm. Most of the advocates were not even aware there was such a document,” she said.

The defence accused the court of giving preferential treatment to the prosecution.

While addressing the court from the dock, Besigye also protested what he described as unfair treatment and warned that he could stop attending court sessions.

“If you continue treating us unfairly, we will stop coming to court,” Besigye told Justice Baguma.

In response, Justice Baguma directed the prosecution to formally serve all defence lawyers with the fresh application and granted the defence two weeks to file its response.

The case was adjourned to March 31 for mention.