The government has said that  former Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander Thomas Kwoyelo alias Latoni is still in contact with the financiers of the rebel outfit.

 

The Attorney General (AG) today asked the Constitutional Court to block Kwoyelo’s release from Luzira Prison, saying he is still a threat to national security.

 

The former rebel was in court for the hearing of an application by the AG that seeks to block his release, pending the outcome of an appeal filed at the Supreme Court.

 

A panel of three judges consisting of Constance Byamugisha, Stella Arach-Amoko, and Steven Kavuma, heard the application.

 

The International Crimes Court division is scheduled to sit in Gulu this Friday to formally effect the Constitutional Court order that granted Kwoyelo his freedom.

 

However, the AG is challenging the landmark ruling of September 22nd this year which granted Kwoyelo his freedom. The court declared that Kwoyelo is entitled to amnesty like others who abandoned rebellion, and should in effect not be tried. 

Principal State Attorney Patricia Mutesi from the AG’s chambers, said releasing Kwoyelo before the appeal is heard by the Supreme Court would be unfair.

 

 “Since the date of judgement, the applicant (AG) has received credible information that the Respondent has remained in contact with foreign backers and financiers of LRA through an intermediary and there is a real risk that upon his release, the respondent (Kwoyelo) will resume rebel activities outside the jurisdiction of Uganda,” Mutesi said. 

 

She added that Police investigating officer Lawrence Ogen Mungu has sworn an affidavit, saying the purported financiers have visited Kwoyelo in prison.

 

Mungu contends that  if released, Kwoyelo will return to resume rebel activity either in Garamba eastern DRC where there is a known base of the LRA or to the Central African Republic where the rebel leader Joseph Kony is known to be operating.

 

 

Mutesi asked court to grant the application, noting that the issues to be determined in the intended appeal are of great public importance, since the rights of many LRA victims were violated.

 

But Kwoyelo’s lawyers Caleb Alaka and Francis Onyango, asked court to dismiss the application with costs, arguing that it is premised on baseless allegations.

 

Citing Kwoyelo’s affidavit in reply, Alaka said the AG’s allegations were false, alarmist and misleading, and would infringe on Kwoyelo’s rights. They reiterated that Kwoyelo genuinely denounced rebellion.

 

“Ogen Mungu’s imagination is that the Maximum Prison in Luzira has no security,”Alaka said.

Onyango disputed the AG’s claims, saying the Prison officers should have sworn affidavits detailing how the purported foreign agents contacted Kwoyelo in prison, Kwoyelo was battling over 53 charges of murder, wilful killing, and kidnap with intent to kill, aggravated robbery, and destruction of property.