Robert Amsterdam, the international lawyer representing Ugandan opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine, has issued a formal letter to Ugandan authorities demanding immediate guarantees for the safety of Wine and his family following a disputed presidential election in which security forces surrounded Wine’s home.
In the letter, Amsterdam calls for the immediate withdrawal of all security deployments that are encircling Wine’s residence, arguing that the presence of these forces constitutes intimidation and retaliation against the electoral outcome.
Amsterdam stresses that the Ugandan government must provide written assurances protecting the life and physical integrity of Bobi Wine and every member of his family, making the guarantees legally binding and verifiable.
The lawyer also demands that the authorities cease all forms of persecution and retaliation against Wine and his relatives, emphasizing that such actions violate democratic legality and public order.
Amsterdam insists that any evidence related to the security operations around Wine’s home be fully preserved, ensuring transparency and accountability in the investigation of the incidents.
The letter warns that failure to comply with these demands will lead to decisive international legal action, invoking the full weight of the law to pursue sanctions against Uganda.
Amsterdam describes the government’s behavior as an illegitimate attempt to “manage” an unfavorable electoral result, asserting that democratic legitimacy cannot justify surrounding a winner’s home and intimidating his family.
The situation has ignited significant international concern, prompting officials in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany to be informed of the potential risks to Wine and his family.
As a result of the threats, Bobi Wine has remained in hiding since the election, citing serious fears for his personal safety and that of his loved ones.
The international community is now watching closely to see whether Ugandan authorities will respond to Amsterdam’s demands, which could determine the next steps in diplomatic and legal pressure regarding the post‑election environment in Uganda.
Here is the letter from Amsterdam and Partners:
To the attention of the competent authorities of the Republic of Uganda,
I write on behalf of Bobi Wine (Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu) and, inseparably, on behalf of his family.
The purpose of this letter is to formally demand the Government of Uganda commit to protecting Bobi Wine. In addition, we formally place on record: the real and immediate risk to the life, physical integrity, and liberty of Bobi Wine and his family and the political nature of the measures currently being deployed against them. Finally, with full institutional courtesy but absolute firmness, we underscore that we will do everything within our power to secure their protection and to pursue all legal responsibilities should any harm occur.
This must be stated from the outset with the clarity situation demands: the election that has been held has rendered a fraudulent outcome. The popular will was unable to be expressed. What is now being carried out against Bobi and his family is therefore not a legitimate security measure, nor a neutral act of law enforcement. It is retaliation. In a functioning democracy, electoral disputes are addressed through lawful remedies, transparency, and due process—not through intimidation, siege tactics, and the targeting of an opponent’s family.
The military forces deployed around Bobi Wine’s family home cannot credibly be described as protection. It is coercion. It is intimidation. It is political punishment. And it has led to the violent attack on his wife, Barbie Kyagulanyi.
When the home of a democratic leader—and the daily life of his family—becomes the theatre of pressure and fear, the message is unmistakable: the objective is to break the winner at the ballot box and to frighten those closest to him.
General Muhoozi Kainerugabaha openly threatened the murder and castration of Bobi Wine. He expresses embarrassment that his troops have only killed 22 members of the NUP thus far. Such outbursts on behalf of a government represent a clear violation of literally every possible legal norm relating to the duty of government to protect civilians. These statements require immediate renunciation and his removal from any position of power now or in the future.
Bobi Wine does not renounce, will not renounce, and cannot be expected to renounce his political convictions. He has committed no crime or defending ideas, leading a democratic alternative, or stating—with legitimacy—that he has won the election. Political disagreement does not justify harassment. A dispute over the official proclamation of results does not authorise persecution. And no authority can credibly claim democratic legitimacy while placing an entire family under threat.
Accordingly, we demand, immediately and without ambiguity, the following:
- Immediate written, formal, and binding guarantees of life and physical integrity
We require a clear and unequivocal written guarantee that Bobi Wine and every member of his family will not be subjected to arbitrary detention, assault, retaliation, enforced disappearance, harassment, intimidation, or any act—direct or indirect—that endangers their life, physical integrity, or personal security.
- Immediate, complete, and verifiable withdrawal of the deployment around the family residence
We require the total, immediate, and verifiable withdrawal of any state forces deployed in or around the family residence and its perimeter, as well as the cessation of any surveillance, obstruction, or direct or indirect pressure upon the home and its occupants.
- Explicit written guarantees against retaliation
We require written guarantees that no punitive, operational, or judicial measures will be taken against Bobi Wine, his family, or those close to him for his political activity, his democratic leadership, or for asserting the popular mandate expressed at the ballot box.
- Full preservation of all evidence
We formally demand the full preservation of all evidence connected to this situation: operational orders, instructions, communications, deployment records, unit identifications, logs, recordings, and any other material relating to the presence around the family residence or to any operation directed against Bobi Wine and those close to him. The destruction, manipulation, or concealment of evidence will aggravate personal responsibility.
These demands are not negotiable, because they are not political. They are matters of survival. They constitute the minimum legal and human threshold.
From this moment onward, and to remove any doubt, the following is also formally placed on record:
First, we will do everything within our power—through all available legal avenues, national and international—to safeguard the life, physical integrity, and liberty of Bobi Wine, and to ensure the security of his family. Calmly, decisively, and without delay.
Second, any harm suffered by Bobi Wine or by any member of his family, whether through direct action or deliberate omission, will immediately trigger the pursuit of legal accountability. Accountability will be sought from those who carry out the acts, those who order them, those who facilitate them, and those who—while able to prevent them—choose not to do so. Responsibility does not disappear within the chain of command; it rises through it.
Third, it must be clearly understood that all of the above is being communicated promptly and continuously to various international authorities. In particular, the relevant authorities of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Germany, among others, are being kept fully informed—both for immediate protective purposes and to establish prior knowledge of the risk and the state responsibility arising from the continuation of this situation.
Allow me to be entirely clear, with full courtesy and complete firmness: this must end. A state that claims democratic legitimacy does not “manage” an unfavourable electoral outcome by surrounding the winner’s home and subjecting his family to intimidation. That is not public order. That is not legality. That is retaliation.
If the authorities of Uganda intend to prevent an irreversible outcome, they must act now and in a verifiable manner: withdraw the deployment, provide written guarantees of life and physical integrity for Bobi Wine and his family, and cease all forms of persecution.
Failing this, we will proceed accordingly, without hesitation, and with the full weight of the law to trigger international sanctions that may be available.
Sincerely,
Robert R Amsterdam
Bobi Wine’s international lawyer Robert Amsterdam previously called for sanctions against Museveni but his son Muhoozi blasted him, as reported Here and There.
