The 11 National Unity Platform supporters facing offences of unlawful possession of fire arms are likely to spend more time behind bars since they have been denied bail by the Nabweru Chief Magistrate’s Court.
This follows prosecution to change prosecutors from Sarah Namubya to Deborah Itwau. With this Deborah asked for more time to peruse through the accused’s documents, which was granted and court adjourned till July 18, 2023.
However, lawyers defending the accused led by Counsel Shamim Malende were dissatisfied by the way prosecution is handling the matter.
“There are no suspects in this matter and this is not the first time suspects are arrested without evidence. We have seen many people on remand for close to 7 years and by the time they are freed by the DPP, they have lost everything,” Malende said.
According to Counsel Elias Luyimbazi Nalukola, the Democratic Party (DP) Lawyer and Muslim Advocate, there was no reasonable cause for adjourning the matter. However as NUP, they were not surprised because the court has no jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
“We made a request that our matter be forwarded to the Constitutional Court, condemning the act of arraigning suspects without evidence but all that was in vain. Prosecution has failed to exercise its duty,” Nalukola said.
The accused led by Magala Umar, the NUP Registrar for Kawempe North were arrested in May 2023, made their first appearance at Nabweru court and were later remanded to Luzira Prison. According to Prosecution, the accused were found in possession of fire arms and bomb making devices, with the intention of disrupting government.
