KAMPALA, Uganda — Lawyer Eron Kiiza has launched one of his strongest public attacks yet on the government’s prosecution of opposition leader Dr. Kizza Besigye, arguing that the treason case is built not on genuine evidence but on what he describes as a state-funded fabrication orchestrated by Uganda’s military intelligence.
In a lengthy statement released on Sunday, Kiiza alleged that security agencies financed and directed the events now being presented as evidence in court, claiming the prosecution’s case rests largely on the testimony of an American contractor whom military intelligence allegedly recruited and paid.
Calling his statement “The Play That Never Happened,” Kiiza argued that the prosecution had transformed “a rumour” into a criminal case carrying the gravest consequences.
“The treason case against Dr Kizza Besigye… How Uganda’s military intelligence built a treason case out of a story it paid a foreigner to tell,” Kiiza wrote.
According to Kiiza, the alleged operation began not with evidence of a criminal conspiracy but with contact initiated by a foreign national.
“How do you build a treason case out of thin air? You don’t start with a crime. You start with a phone call. In 2021, a white foreigner… rings a Ugandan military officer posted abroad and introduces himself as ‘Orlando.’ The officer carries the name of the ‘stranger’ to the top of Uganda’s military intelligence. And instead of asking, ‘Is there really a plot?’ the spy chief — without any due diligence about the stranger — gives an order: keep talking to him. Keep him going.”
Kiiza went on to identify the man only as “Orlando,” describing him as an American and former British soldier whom he claimed Uganda’s military intelligence hired to manufacture evidence.
“Who is this Orlando? He is an American — a former British soldier, a mercenary for hire, a man once exposed in the American press for teaching police how to torture. He is a contractor. Uganda’s own military intelligence is paying him — with Uganda’s taxes — to construct a treason case against Ugandan taxpayers critical of the Museveni regime.”
He further alleged that every major aspect of the supposed conspiracy was arranged and financed by the same individual.
“He books the flights. He hands over the money — five thousand US dollars. He helps arrange the training that never happened. And, above all, he switches on a hidden camera in every room and records. Every ‘meeting,’ every word the state now calls treason, was set up, funded, and filmed by the very man the state was paying to do it.”
Kiiza claimed the government had effectively financed the very conspiracy it now alleges was intended to overthrow it.
“The fictitious plot they are prosecuting — the plot for which they abduct, torture, illegally detain, and deny medical care to the sick — is the very plot they financed. The Government paid an American to construct a fake treason story.”
The lawyer argued that the prosecution’s evidence travels through several layers of military officers who, according to him, possess no firsthand knowledge of the alleged events.
He named Maj. Gen. Richard Otto, Maj. Gen. Abel Kandiho, Maj. Gen. James Birungi and Lt. Col. Dan Atwine, contending that each relied on information passed through intermediaries before reaching investigators and prosecutors.
“Look at the ladder this story had to climb before it reached a courtroom… Besigye — who was never there. Orlando — the paid foreigner who was. Moses Baraza — who repeated what Orlando told him. Atwine — who repeated what Moses told him. And the generals at the top, reciting the prepared file.”
Kiiza concluded that what the court would ultimately receive was hearsay rather than direct evidence.
“It is gossip in military uniform. A rumour they paid to start, climbing the chain of military command until it reaches a judge dressed as evidence.”
The lawyer also questioned the prosecution’s timeline, arguing that it conflicts with Besigye’s publicly documented movements.
“The state swears Besigye was in Geneva plotting on the 24th of January 2024. But on the 23rd he was live on Sanyuka TV from his home in Kasangati, and on the 25th he was standing in a Kampala courtroom. For their story to be true, he would have had to teleport. That date is not evidence. It is fiction.”
Kiiza maintained that the only participant with firsthand knowledge, according to the prosecution’s own narrative, is the foreign contractor.
“The one man who was actually there — the paid foreigner who wrote the script and played the lead — walks free. And his Ugandan victims… stand trial for their lives on his paid word alone.”
He ended with a sweeping condemnation of the case.
“The spymasters commissioned the story. They paid an American to perform it. They passed it up a ladder of middlemen until it wore a general’s stars… That is not a treason case. It is a play. And a whole nation is being made to watch it as if it were real.”
The allegations add another dramatic chapter to one of Uganda’s most politically charged criminal prosecutions.
Dr. Besigye, a four-time presidential challenger and longtime critic of President Yoweri Museveni, has repeatedly denied accusations that he plotted to overthrow the government.
His lawyers have consistently argued that the charges are politically motivated, while government prosecutors maintain they possess sufficient evidence to sustain the case.
Court proceedings have drawn intense domestic and international attention amid continued concerns raised by opposition figures, lawyers and rights organisations over the treatment of Besigye and his co-accused while in detention.
Uganda’s government has repeatedly defended the prosecution, insisting that the accused are being tried through lawful judicial processes.
Kiiza’s statement comes as the case continues before the High Court, where both the prosecution and defence are expected to contest the admissibility, credibility and weight of the evidence expected to be presented.
THE PLAY THAT NEVER HAPPENED (as written by Eron Kiiza)
The treason case against Dr Kizza Besigye
The Play That Never Happened
How Uganda’s military intelligence built a treason case out of a story it paid a foreigner to tell.
How do you build a treason case out of thin air?
You don’t start with a crime. You start with a phone call. In 2021, a white foreigner (according to his statement to the Uganda Police, Criminal Investigations Directorate, at their headquarters in Kibuli, Kampala, on 17th March 2025 at 5:30 p.m.) rings a Ugandan military officer posted abroad and introduces himself as “Orlando.” The officer carries the name of the “stranger” to the top of Uganda’s military intelligence. And instead of asking, “Is there really a plot?” the spy chief — without any due diligence about the stranger — gives an order: keep talking to him. Keep him going.
Who is this Orlando? He is an American — a former British soldier, a mercenary for hire, a man once exposed in the American press for teaching police how to torture. He is a contractor. Uganda’s own military intelligence is paying him — with Uganda’s taxes — to construct a treason case against Ugandan taxpayers critical of the Museveni regime.
So what does the paid man do? Everything, according to his police statement. He books the flights. He hands over the money — five thousand US dollars. He helps arrange the training that never happened. And, above all, he switches on a hidden camera in every room and records. Every “meeting,” every word the state now calls treason, was set up, funded, and filmed by the very man the state was paying to do it.
The fictitious plot they are prosecuting — the plot for which they abduct, torture, illegally detain, and deny medical care to the sick — is the very plot they financed. The Government paid an American to construct a fake treason story. The American ate the money. Besigye, Lukwago, Lutale and — for some reason — a certain Danish are in jail, fighting for their lives, their health, and their liberty.
The paid American then handed the fake treason story to his client’s military officers, who will testify.
None of them was ever in the room. Maj. Gen. Richard Otto took a phone call (and a WhatsApp chat, according to Orlando). Maj. Gen. Abel Kandiho was told about the American and gave the order to keep him talking — an order he ran down through Lt. Col. Dan Atwine. Maj. Gen. James Birungi inherited the file and “received briefings.” Lt. Col. Dan Atwine — the supposed handler at the bottom of the chain, the man supposedly closest to the action? By his own statement, he never dealt with Besigye, and never even dealt with Orlando. His information came through a middleman: Moses Baraza, a Ugandan businessman who called Orlando his friend and simply passed along whatever Orlando fed him to Lt. Col. Dan Atwine, who then pushed it up the military intelligence ladder.
Look at the ladder this story had to climb before it reached a courtroom. Besigye — who was never there. Orlando — the paid foreigner who was. Moses Baraza — who repeated what Orlando told him. Atwine — who repeated what Moses told him. And the generals at the top, reciting the prepared file. The only man at the bottom with first-hand knowledge was the hired American hand. Every single person above him is just passing along a message. It is gossip in military uniform. A rumour they paid to start, climbing the chain of military command until it reaches a judge dressed as evidence.This is the rumour that awaits Judge Baguma. This is the rumour for which he has appointed State-paid and State-preferred lawyers to listen, after refusing to protect the accused persons’ chosen lawyers from persecution, abduction, torture, and intimidation.
And the story doesn’t even hold together. The state swears Besigye was in Geneva plotting on the 24th of January 2024. But on the 23rd he was live on Sanyuka TV from his home in Kasangati, and on the 25th he was standing in a Kampala courtroom. For their story to be true, he would have had to teleport. That date is not evidence. It is fiction. The entire treason case is fiction — Orlando’s fiction, paid for by the Government of Uganda to create a basis, in the words of the Chief of Defence Forces, to hang Besigye.
The one man who was actually there — the paid foreigner who wrote the script and played the lead — walks free. And his Ugandan victims (Besigye, Lukwago, Lutale…) stand trial for their lives on his paid word alone.
The spymasters commissioned the story. They paid an American to perform it. They passed it up a ladder of middlemen until it wore a general’s stars. And when they climb into that witness box, the most many of them can honestly say is: somebody told me.
That is not a treason case. It is a play. And a whole nation is being made to watch it as if it were real.
Kiiza Eron
Sunday, 19 July 2026
WINNIE BYANYIMA’S TAKE
Winnie Byanyima, wife to Dr Kizza Besigye: “We have learnt from our sources that Andrew Orlando Wilson (@artfulgypzy) was contracted for US$3 million to carry out a pretext mission to frame @kizzabesigye1 and secure his conviction on treason charges. If this information is true, Andrew Orlando Wilson is a mercenary for hire, doing the dirty work of authoritarian regimes by helping criminalise political opponents. I have never met him, but I have researched him. His role will be exposed. Andrew Orlando Wilson (@artfulgypzy) presents himself as a British former soldier who has built an international career as a private investigator and security consultant.
Serious questions will be asked about the clients he has worked for and the operations he has undertaken, particularly where they involve governments, like Uganda’s, accused of persecuting political opponents.
Orlando, be warned. Uganda’s human rights and pro-democracy movement is ready for you. Your contractors will leave you high and dry, just as they did Kyakuwa and others before you. The truth has a long memory.”
Besigye’s wife Winnie Byanyima has previously claimed that leaked Audios and Intelligence Reports Pinning Besigye Fabricated by Arrested UPDF Intelligence Bosses. See Details Here and There.
