KAMPALA – A group of Lawyers have petitioned the head of High Court Criminal Division seeking for his immediate intervention on the fate of Prisoners who were sent on remand by the General Court Martial before Supreme Court ruling of Kabaziguruka Vs Attorney General.
In this ruling which was delivered in January 2025, Court outlawed the trial of Civilians in the General Court Martial ordered that all files involving Civilians before that court, to be transferred to normal courts for further management with support from the Attorney General and the office for the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).
However, due to a number of reasons, a number of the suspects on the charges are still on remand pending the transfer of their files. This has prompted their lawyers to petition High Court to have their clients released on bail, but majority have not been successful.
“We respectfully urge the consolidation of the progressive human-rights jurisprudence recently exhibited by the Criminal Division in: Kiiza Eron v Uganda, (Hon. Justice Michael Elubu): 28 August 2025, Kareodu Robert Irama v Uganda, (Hon. Justice lsah Serunkuma); and Turmwesigye Enock v Uganda, (Hon. Justice lsaac Muwata).” Reads part of the petition
The lawyers noted that, all those decisions embraced the High Court’s inherent and constitutional mandate to cure the vacuum created by executive inaction and prolonged pre-trial incarceration of civilians, without committal, without trial, and without a lawful forum, which offends the right to liberty, the presumption of innocence, the constitutional guarantee of bail after 180 days’ detention in capital matters.
“We further request this Honourable Court to liaise with the Registrar of the Supreme Court and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions to expedite the physical transfer and re-registration of all affected case files, thereby eliminating the procedural purgatory in which many detainees currently languish.”
The petitioners promised that that they will remain available for any consultative engagement that may facilitate a speedy, rights-compliant resolution of these matters.
The petitioners in this matter are; Peter Walubiri, Mohammed Mbabazi, Dr. Henry Onoria, Dr. Chris Mbaziira, Edward Kato Ssekabanja, Timothy Amanya, Ivan Bwowe, Lilian A Drabo, Ronald Samuel Wanda, Peter Arinaitwe, Steven Kalaki, Primah Mwagala, Philip Karugaba and Julius Galisonga.
