For Us, Besigye is Innocent – Otafiire

Otafiire and Besigye

Internal affairs minister Maj Gen (Rtd) Kahinda Otafiire says veteran opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye is innocent, at least in the court of public opinion.

Dr Besigye and his aide Obeid Lutale Kamulegeya have been in detention for about 300 days. They were abducted from Nairobi, Kenya, in November last year and have been denied bail. They face treason charges.

First, Besigye and Lutale were arraigned in the military court but a Supreme Court ruling outlawed the trial of civilians in military courts, angering President Yoweri Museveni, who made it clear that judges do not own Uganda. (See Details Here and There).

With prolonged detention without trial, Otafiire, a bush war comrade of Museveni and Besigye, has opined that Besigye, a four-time presidential challenger of Museveni’s, is innocent.

“Besigye should be tried in court and condemned or absolved,” Otafiire said at the inaugural Sam Njuba memorial lecture hosted by the Uganda Law Society.

Njuba was a law professor at Makerere University, a former Kyadondo East MP, and a former minister.

“We don’t know what he did,” continued Otafiire,” adding that, “for us, in the court of public opinion, he’s innocent.”

As Otafiire spoke, government chief legal advisor, Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka, was in attendance – and so was Besigye’s lawyer, the Kampala City lord mayor Erias Lukwago.

It should be remembered that Besigye’s People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) party recently gave a worrying update on Besigye’s health condition, as reported Here.

Besigye’s wife Winnie Byanyima has also said that the leaked audios used to pin Besigye were fabricated by arrested intelligence chiefs. (See Details Here and There).

Meanwhile, a bush war general has advised Besigye to betray the struggle, beg Museveni for forgiveness and be freed. (See Details Here).

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