‘I am not prosecuting Besigye’
Mar 06, 2006
GEN. Elly Tumwine has said it is the State and not the General Court Martial (GCM) that is prosecuting FDC president retired Col. Dr. Kizza Besigye.
By Maurice Okore
GEN. Elly Tumwine has said it is the State and not the General Court Martial (GCM) that is prosecuting FDC president retired Col. Dr. Kizza Besigye.
The court chairman was reacting to press reports, which he said implied that he was prosecuting the case in which Besigye and 22 suspected People’s Redemption Army rebels, including his brother Joseph Musasizi, are accused of unlawful possession of firearms and engaging in acts of terrorism.
“It is not me or any member of the court martial panel that is prosecuting Col. Kizza Besigye. It is the state prosecuting the suspects. Our duty is to try suspects brought forward by the state,†Tumwine said yesterday on phone.
“It is wrong for the media to give an impression that it is the Court Martial that is prosecuting suspects,†he said.
Besigye, who lost the presidential polls to president Yoweri Museveni, is scheduled to go on trial on March 15.
The GCM issued the summons on March 1, following to the reinstatement of Besigye’s, name on the charge sheet.
Last week Besigye’s lawyers said he would not honour GCM directives.
They said the GCM’s decision was in contempt of the constitutional court ruling that stated that the GCM had no powers to try Besigye and the 22 other suspects.
The ruling followed a petition by the Uganda Law Society seeking constitutional review on the legality of laws connected with the arrest, detention, charge and trial of Besigye and his co-accused.
GEN. Elly Tumwine has said it is the State and not the General Court Martial (GCM) that is prosecuting FDC president retired Col. Dr. Kizza Besigye.
The court chairman was reacting to press reports, which he said implied that he was prosecuting the case in which Besigye and 22 suspected People’s Redemption Army rebels, including his brother Joseph Musasizi, are accused of unlawful possession of firearms and engaging in acts of terrorism.
“It is not me or any member of the court martial panel that is prosecuting Col. Kizza Besigye. It is the state prosecuting the suspects. Our duty is to try suspects brought forward by the state,†Tumwine said yesterday on phone.
“It is wrong for the media to give an impression that it is the Court Martial that is prosecuting suspects,†he said.
Besigye, who lost the presidential polls to president Yoweri Museveni, is scheduled to go on trial on March 15.
The GCM issued the summons on March 1, following to the reinstatement of Besigye’s, name on the charge sheet.
Last week Besigye’s lawyers said he would not honour GCM directives.
They said the GCM’s decision was in contempt of the constitutional court ruling that stated that the GCM had no powers to try Besigye and the 22 other suspects.
The ruling followed a petition by the Uganda Law Society seeking constitutional review on the legality of laws connected with the arrest, detention, charge and trial of Besigye and his co-accused.