Uganda’s leading Opposition politician, Robert Ssentamu Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine, has congratulated the legal team and Supreme Court justices over the ruling against the trial of civilians in military tribunals.
“We welcome today’s Supreme Court ruling stopping the trial of civilians by the military courts martial. For years, we have condemned these inherently unfair trials, which have been a key weapon of persecution wielded by the regime against its opponents,” Bobi Wine said.
National Unity Platform (NUP) which Bobi Wine leads as President says since 2020, over 2,000 of it’s supporters have been abducted, tortured and subjected to sham military trials.
On that note, Bobi Wine said: “Today’s judgment vindicates the cries of thousands who have been suffering illegal prosecution before these kangaroo courts and reaffirms what we have always said—civilians must be tried by civilians.”
Bobi Wine has also welcomed the Court’s directive that all pending cases against soldiers, which should rightfully be tried in civil courts, must be transferred to those courts.
“This issue is critical because even serving army officers deserve fair trials under a transparent and independent judicial system. No one—civilian or soldier—should be subjected to a sham judicial process,” Bobi Wine said.
Bobi Wine said he hopes that this ruling, which came as a pleasant surprise to the vast majority of citizens, is the first step for the judiciary to cleanse its image, which has been overtime grossly soiled by its inability to hold true to the tenets of judicial independence and impartiality.
According to Bobi Wine, the judiciary must prove that today’s decision is not an exception to the norm but the beginning of consistent and impartial justice for all Ugandans.
President Yoweri Museveni’s biggest challenger in the 2021 presidential elections noted that Ugandans deserve a judiciary that upholds constitutional supremacy and the rule of law at all times, regardless of who is going to be affected by the outcome of the decision made.
Bobi Wine reiterated the call for the immediate release of all political prisoners, including Dr. Kizza Besigye and his colleague, Hajj Obeid Lutale Kamulegeya, as well as the NUP prisoners of conscience who include Agaba Anthony (Bobi Young), Yasin Ssekitoleko (Machete), Kato Umar, Patrick Mwase, Sharif Kalanzi, Joseph Muwonge, Abdallah Kintu, Umar Kato, Kavuma Musa, Jimmy Galukande, Gibusiwa Abdallah and countless others who remain behind bars.