Treason suspects freed, re-arrested

May 08, 2003

THE jubilation of two treason suspects freed on bail came to a sudden halt when security personnel re-arrested them outside Buganda Road Court on Wednesday

THE jubilation of two treason suspects freed on bail came to a sudden halt when security personnel re-arrested them outside Buganda Road Court on Wednesday.

Jude Etyang reports that four pistol-wielding security men quickly bundled the suspects, who are both linked to the rebel PRA army, into a saloon car and drove away towards Nakasero.

Kafureeka Mugisha, a 38-year-old Principal Researcher at Makerere University, and Fred Biryomumaiso, a UPDF veteran, were granted mandatory bail after spending 365 days on remand.

Relatives who had come to collect the suspects remained at the court till late in the afternoon.

Magistrate Susan Kanyange who released the suspects, ruled that they had a right to mandatory bail if they had spent 365 days on remand without being committed to the High Court for trial.

Kafureeka’s lawyer, Muhammad Mbabazi, applied for bail, saying the accused were remanded in Luzira Prison on April 26, 2002 and that a year had elapsed without their being committed for trial.

Kanyange set the bail at sh100,000 for both suspects while their sureties were bonded for sh5m (not cash).

The state prosecutor, Marion Achio, opposed the bail on grounds that the the committal papers were almost ready.

The accused allegedly recruited for the Peoples Redemption Army rebels between March and April 2002, in a plot to overthrow the Government.

By press time, the whereabouts of the suspects had not been established. The case will come back for hearing on May 26.

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