Lawyers hold protest at high court

Ugandan lawyers held a one-day strike on Monday to protest what they called military interference in the trial of detained opposition leader Kizza Besigye and 21 other suspects on charges of treason and terrorism. "This protest is against the backdrop of repeated overt and covert actions by the executive [including] the deliberate nonobservance and disrespect of judicial authority," declared Moses Adriko, president of the Uganda Law Society (ULS). Ugandan authorities tightened security and banned public demonstrations in support of Besigye before he was brought to the high court on Thursday to face treason and rape charges. They also forbade all radio programmes from discussing the case. Instead of being taken to the High Court, however, Besigye, was brought before a military tribunal and charged with terrorism and illegal possession of weapons. Following an argument between his lawyers and the tribunal officials, the lawyers were held in contempt of court. "We are also protesting the evolving practice of simultaneously trying suspects in civilian courts and the court martial for the same or related offences," Adriko added. Besigye, the leader of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), is widely seen as President Yoweri Museveni's main challenger in presidential elections scheduled for March 2006. He was arrested on 14 November and charged with planning to overthrow the government. Besigye is also accused of committing rape in 1997. His detention sparked street riots in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, in which at least two people died and dozens were arrested. The high court granted bail to the 21 people accused of being Besigye’s associates. Their sureties, however, refused to sign the bail papers after heavily armed men surrounded the courthouse ready to re-arrest the suspects, who also faced separate court-martial proceedings before a military tribunal. The Ugandan army later explained that the armed men, who were dressed in black T-shirts, had been deployed to re-arrest the suspects to answer charges in the military court. "The [ULS] members are convinced that actions which culminated in the unprecedented siege of the high court on 16 November by armed soldiers - the so called Black Mamba urban hit squad - constituted the most naked and grotesque violation of the twin doctrines of the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary," the law society said in a statement. Adriko later led more than 100 lawyers who were dressed in black robes to present a petition to Ugandan Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki. In the petition, the lawyers demanded that the Ugandan government condemn the intimidation, threats and attacks on the judiciary and issue an apology. The group also called for an independent inquiry into the incident in which the soldiers besieged the court "including the assault of the high court premises." They demanded that the government refrains from further interference in the work of the judiciary. The lawyers set up a watch committee with the mandate to monitor and document attacks by the government or individuals on the judiciary. Besigye was Museveni's personal doctor during the guerrilla war that ousted Milton Obote and brought Museveni into power in 1986. He lost to Museveni in the 2001 presidential elections and fled Uganda soon after the polls, alleging that his life was in danger.