Col (Rtd) Dr. Kizza Besigye, together with Haji Obeid Rutale, has been remanded to Luzira after they were charged with unlawful possession of two pistols and ammunition in Nairobi, Kenya, on Saturday, November 16, 2024.
The duo is further accused of convening meetings abroad to solicit funds purportedly intended to disrupt national security.
Appearing before the Court Martial in Makindye, Kampala, on Wednesday, November 20, 2024, both denied the charges. They have been remanded to Luzira Prison until December 2, 2024, when the case will be returned for further proceedings.
At around noon, Besigye and accomplice arrived at the General Court Martial in Makindye, Kampala, and appeared before Brig Gen Freeman Mugabe, the Chairman of the General Court Martial, to be read the charges they are being accused of.
Earlier, the National Unity Platform (NUP) Party President, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, alias Bobi Wine, demanded the release of the former opposition figure, Besigye, after his alleged abduction and disappearance in Kenya.
Besigye’s wife, Winnie Byanyima, said on her X account that her husband was kidnapped on Saturday, November 16, 2024, in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, where he had traveled to attend the book launch of Narc Kenya party leader Martha Karua before his disappearance.
She appealed to the government of Uganda to immediately release her husband from where he had been held.
“I am now reliably informed that he is in a military jail in Kampala. We, his family and his lawyers, demand to see him. He is not a soldier. Why is he being held in a military jail?” she queried.
Taking to his X handle on November 20, 2024, Kyagulanyi strongly condemned the news of Besigye’s disappearance and abduction from Kenya.
“We condemn this blatant abuse of the law by the regime here in Uganda, and sadly the authorities in Kenya, “he stated.
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Kyagulanyi associated the disappearance of Besigye with an abduction of 36 other activists in Nairobi and brought back to Uganda, which was an utter violation of the law.
“We are back to the dark days when Ugandans were casually picked from the streets of Nairobi and returned to Uganda to be tortured, jailed, and others executed,” he said.
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Kyagulanyi criticized the Kenyan authorities for conniving with the Ugandan government and handing over suspects without following extradition laws.
However, contrary to the abduction allegations, the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) spokesperson, Brig Gen Felix Kulayigye, declined to give the details of his arrest and announced that Kizza Besigye would appear before the General Court Martial for a case the public was yet to be knowledgeable about.
