PRA suspects boycott court
Mar 26, 2007
THE trial of the PRA suspects took another turn yesterday when they refused to enter court in Bushenyi where they are charged with murder, saying the court was “illegalâ€. The three men are charged with murdering John Byarugaba at Imaramagambo in Bushenyi on July 17, 2002.
By Kyomuhendo Muhanga and Chris Ahimbisibwe in Bushenyi
THE trial of the PRA suspects took another turn yesterday when they refused to enter court in Bushenyi where they are charged with murder, saying the court was “illegalâ€.
“We know we are subjects of court but we cannot subject ourselves to a kangaroo court. Courts in Uganda are gazetted, as far as I know there is no court which is inside prisons, this is not court,†Robert Tweyame alias Darius Baguma, one of the three suspects, said behind the prisons fence.
His co-accused Joseph Musasizi Kifefe and Atukunda alias Amanya also remained adamant inside the prisons enclosure. The three are charged with murdering John Byarugaba at Imaramagambo in Bushenyi on July 17, 2002. Kifefe is a brother to opposition leader Dr. Kizza Besigye of FDC
Judicial officials had transferred the court from its usual gazetted area in Bushenyi town to Nyamushekyera Prisons peripherals.
A judicial official who preferred anonymity said they feared for their security after Forum for Democratic Change threatened they would demonstrate in town as court proceeded.
In Bushenyi, the Police deployed heavily and check-points were mounted on all road junctions leading to the town.
Two roadblocks were mounted on the 1km Nyamushekyera road. Godfrey Bangirana, the Police commissioner for operations, patrolled the town in a Police vehicle UP 0720.
The Police spokesperson, Asan Kasingye, said the deployment was normal.
“We are mandated to deploy whereever we feel the security of the people is compromised,†Kasingye told journalists at Nyamushekyera Prisons. The press were subjected to Police search while their cameras, recorders and mobile phones were held during their stay at the premises
At 10:27am, grade one magistrate Herbert Birungi called for the three suspects to appear before him but the prisons chief warden, who identified himself as H. Matsiko, told court that the suspects had refused to leave their cells.
“My worship, the suspects this morning refused to leave their cells to come and attend court. We tried to convince them but they totally refused,†Matsiko said.
Resident state attorney Jenniffer Namanya requested court to issue a production warrant and they be forcefully brought in court and be charged with contempt of court but the magistrate instead remanded them in absentia to April 10 when the next hearing takes place.
“You are ordered to produce the three suspects in court without fail on April,10,†Birungi told the prisons chief warden. “Failure to do so, you will have to explain.†The court was only attended by court and security officials.
The suspects’ lawyer, Mark Bwengye and few of the Forum for Democratic Change officials and suspects’ relatives also refused to enter court and opted to remain outside.
Bwengye said he opted not to enter court because he had no instruction to represent his clients in a court which was inside the prison’s fence.
Bwengye said he arrived at the court in Bushenyi at 8:00am and waited for over two hours only to be told the court had been shifted to the prisons.
He said under the law, for a court to be shifted to a gazetted area the judiciary must inform the defence counsels. “In this case they did not do so,†he said.
Relatives included Dr. Kizza Besigye’s 76-year-old aunt Abisagi Karekyezi, the Rev. Father Dan Kabaka from Nyakibare parish in Rukungiri and Igrid Turinawe, the party’s national secretary for women.
Karekyezi yelled to prisons officers: “Release my sons, they have done nothing, they have never stolen anything, not even stolen a chicken.â€
During the court proceedings, sympathisers outside the prisons fences instead collected sh65,000 which they said was for the suspects upkeep.
In Bushenyi and Ishaka townships, FDC supporters carrying placards matched through the towns.
“This is no justice. We need justice to be done to our people,†Odo Tayebwa, the Bushenyi FDC publicity secretary, said.
THE trial of the PRA suspects took another turn yesterday when they refused to enter court in Bushenyi where they are charged with murder, saying the court was “illegalâ€.
“We know we are subjects of court but we cannot subject ourselves to a kangaroo court. Courts in Uganda are gazetted, as far as I know there is no court which is inside prisons, this is not court,†Robert Tweyame alias Darius Baguma, one of the three suspects, said behind the prisons fence.
His co-accused Joseph Musasizi Kifefe and Atukunda alias Amanya also remained adamant inside the prisons enclosure. The three are charged with murdering John Byarugaba at Imaramagambo in Bushenyi on July 17, 2002. Kifefe is a brother to opposition leader Dr. Kizza Besigye of FDC
Judicial officials had transferred the court from its usual gazetted area in Bushenyi town to Nyamushekyera Prisons peripherals.
A judicial official who preferred anonymity said they feared for their security after Forum for Democratic Change threatened they would demonstrate in town as court proceeded.
In Bushenyi, the Police deployed heavily and check-points were mounted on all road junctions leading to the town.
Two roadblocks were mounted on the 1km Nyamushekyera road. Godfrey Bangirana, the Police commissioner for operations, patrolled the town in a Police vehicle UP 0720.
The Police spokesperson, Asan Kasingye, said the deployment was normal.
“We are mandated to deploy whereever we feel the security of the people is compromised,†Kasingye told journalists at Nyamushekyera Prisons. The press were subjected to Police search while their cameras, recorders and mobile phones were held during their stay at the premises
At 10:27am, grade one magistrate Herbert Birungi called for the three suspects to appear before him but the prisons chief warden, who identified himself as H. Matsiko, told court that the suspects had refused to leave their cells.
“My worship, the suspects this morning refused to leave their cells to come and attend court. We tried to convince them but they totally refused,†Matsiko said.
Resident state attorney Jenniffer Namanya requested court to issue a production warrant and they be forcefully brought in court and be charged with contempt of court but the magistrate instead remanded them in absentia to April 10 when the next hearing takes place.
“You are ordered to produce the three suspects in court without fail on April,10,†Birungi told the prisons chief warden. “Failure to do so, you will have to explain.†The court was only attended by court and security officials.
The suspects’ lawyer, Mark Bwengye and few of the Forum for Democratic Change officials and suspects’ relatives also refused to enter court and opted to remain outside.
Bwengye said he opted not to enter court because he had no instruction to represent his clients in a court which was inside the prison’s fence.
Bwengye said he arrived at the court in Bushenyi at 8:00am and waited for over two hours only to be told the court had been shifted to the prisons.
He said under the law, for a court to be shifted to a gazetted area the judiciary must inform the defence counsels. “In this case they did not do so,†he said.
Relatives included Dr. Kizza Besigye’s 76-year-old aunt Abisagi Karekyezi, the Rev. Father Dan Kabaka from Nyakibare parish in Rukungiri and Igrid Turinawe, the party’s national secretary for women.
Karekyezi yelled to prisons officers: “Release my sons, they have done nothing, they have never stolen anything, not even stolen a chicken.â€
During the court proceedings, sympathisers outside the prisons fences instead collected sh65,000 which they said was for the suspects upkeep.
In Bushenyi and Ishaka townships, FDC supporters carrying placards matched through the towns.
“This is no justice. We need justice to be done to our people,†Odo Tayebwa, the Bushenyi FDC publicity secretary, said.