Dismiss Besigye ‘Hanging’ Case with Costs: Muhoozi Tells Judge Baguma

KAMPALA, Uganda — The latest battle in the long-running legal and political saga surrounding Dr. Kizza Besigye is no longer centered on the treason case keeping the veteran opposition leader behind bars. It is now about words — words allegedly posted online by Uganda’s top military officer, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, and whether they crossed a constitutional line.

In a fresh filing before the High Court in Kampala, Gen. Muhoozi, through military officers acting on his behalf, has asked Justice Emmanuel Baguma to throw out an application in which Dr. Besigye accuses him of publicly threatening his life and prejudicing criminal proceedings that could determine his future.

The request places the Chief of Defence Forces at the center of a case examining whether repeated public statements about a detainee awaiting trial can undermine the constitutional guarantee of a fair hearing. The application names Gen. Muhoozi, Col Peter Ahimbisibwe and Lt Col Ephraim Byaruhanga as respondents.

According to an affidavit sworn on June 18 by Lt Col Daniel Atwiine, head of the UPDF Special Investigations Bureau, the application brought by Dr. Besigye and his co-applicant, Hajj Obeid Lutale Kamulegeya, is based on speculation and hearsay and should be dismissed.

“I swear this affidavit in opposition to the Applicants’ application and in support of the Respondents’ prayer that the application be dismissed with costs,” Atwiine stated.

The application stems from a series of social media posts attributed to Gen. Muhoozi over the past year.

Court documents filed by Besigye allege that the military commander repeatedly portrayed him as guilty before trial and openly discussed his execution while criminal proceedings were still pending.

Among the posts cited is one allegedly published on January 16, 2025, stating: “We will hang KB on Heroes’ Day. That’s the best day for him to die.”

Another allegedly posted on February 19, 2026, stated: “Besigye wanted to kill Mzee, so as far as we are concerned, UPDF, he is a dead man walking.”

A third post allegedly declared: “I think we might hang Besigye by next month. If we don’t hang him, we will shoot him dead. That will be a great day for Uganda.”

For Besigye, who remains on remand while facing treason-related charges, the statements go beyond political rhetoric. His legal team argues they amount to threats of violence and create an atmosphere that could compromise judicial independence.

In submissions before the court, the applicants contend that pronouncements of guilt by the country’s most senior military officer place pressure on courts yet to hear evidence and determine the facts of the case.

“The 1st respondent’s adverse and prejudicial public statements threatening death, violence, torture and execution, and characterising the 1st applicant as a criminal, individually and cumulatively, give rise to violations of, and continuing threats to, human rights and freedoms,” the application states.

The court filing further argues that such statements threaten the integrity of future proceedings.

“Public pronouncements of guilt, and of a predetermined fatal outcome, made by such a figure while assessors are yet to be empanelled and witnesses heard, contaminate the atmosphere of an independent and impartial court and pressure the trial court,” the applicants contend.

The dispute arrives after nearly 19 months of legal and political turbulence that began not in Kampala but in Nairobi.

On November 16, 2024, Besigye traveled to Kenya to attend a book launch hosted by Kenyan politician Martha Karua. Days later, he resurfaced in military custody in Uganda. His family and lawyers described the episode as an abduction and unlawful transfer across an international border.

Ugandan authorities have consistently rejected that characterization, maintaining that security agencies acted on intelligence indicating a threat to national security.

When Besigye first appeared before the General Court Martial in Makindye on November 20, 2024, prosecutors accused him and Lutale of security-related offenses, including unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition. Prosecutors alleged that meetings held in Nairobi, Athens and Geneva were part of efforts to obtain support for activities aimed at destabilizing the Ugandan government.

The case rapidly grew into one of the most consequential legal battles in Uganda in recent years.

In January 2025, prosecutors amended the charge sheet to include treason and misprision of treason and added a third accused person, Capt Denis Oola Oyaa.

At the same time, legal challenges mounted over the prosecution of civilians before military courts. The matter eventually reached Uganda’s highest court, resulting in a landmark ruling that civilians could not continue being tried before military tribunals, forcing the transfer of several cases, including Besigye’s, into the civilian justice system.

Yet the circumstances surrounding his arrest and transfer from Kenya have remained at the center of the controversy.

Besigye and Lutale argue that they were unlawfully seized in Nairobi, transported to Uganda without extradition proceedings and held incommunicado at Makindye Military Barracks. They further allege that they were denied access to lawyers, family members and medical personnel and subjected to torture and other violations of their constitutional rights.

The latest court application seeks to place those claims before the High Court.

In response, Lt Col Atwiine rejects the allegations and insists that security agencies acted lawfully.

According to his affidavit, intelligence reports indicated that Besigye and Lutale were coordinating activities intended to overthrow the government.

“We received information that the Applicants were coordinating with other people within and outside Uganda to mobilise, recruit, train, and acquire arms with the intention of overthrowing the legitimate government of Uganda,” Atwiine states.

The affidavit further denies that Col Peter Ahimbisibwe and Lt Col Byaruhanga participated in any alleged abduction operation and insists that the applicants were informed of the reasons for their arrest and accorded their legal rights.

“I know that the Applicants were informed of the reasons for their arrest, rights to access medical doctors, lawyers, family, and friends. I know that Makindye Military Police Detention Centre is a lawful detention facility,” Atwiine states.

The case before Justice Baguma now extends beyond the question of whether Besigye and Lutale were lawfully brought back to Uganda.

At its core lies a broader question: whether statements allegedly made by a serving Chief of Defence Forces about a detainee awaiting trial can violate constitutional protections and compromise the right to an independent and impartial hearing.

Besigye is asking the court to declare that the statements attributed to Gen. Muhoozi violated his constitutional rights and rendered the criminal proceedings against him and Lutale fundamentally unfair.

He is also seeking orders nullifying the criminal proceedings, directing the government to facilitate treatment and rehabilitation costs arising from alleged torture, ordering his unconditional release and awarding costs of the application.

For Gen. Muhoozi and the other respondents, however, the objective is straightforward: dismissal of the application with costs.

The confrontation carries unusual significance because it pits Uganda’s most prominent opposition figure against the country’s most senior military officer, who is also the son of President Yoweri Museveni.

For more than two decades, Besigye has remained one of Museveni’s most persistent challengers, contesting four presidential elections and repeatedly finding himself at the center of major political confrontations with the state.

Now, while awaiting trial on treason charges, he has opened a new legal front — one focused not on the evidence against him, but on whether public declarations about his fate have already undermined the possibility of a fair trial.

Justice Baguma has scheduled the hearing of the application for June 30.

His ruling on whether the case proceeds could shape not only Besigye’s legal strategy but also the limits of public commentary by powerful state officials on matters pending before Uganda’s courts.

Meanwhile, a court in Makindye is expected to deliver the ruling in an application for bail by Besigye lawyer Erias Lukwago who was abducted from his home and now faces misprision of treason charges. Kenyan lawyer for Besigye and Lukwago Martha Karua was blocked at Entebbe Airport and deported. (See Details Here, There and Over There).