Max Mutabingwa, the lead counsel said on Tuesday when Buganda road Chief Magistrate James Ereemye Mawanda deferred the bail application ruling to December 19 said he would take the application to High Court to secure their bail.James Ereemye Mawanda deferred the ruling saying he needed time to review volumes of documents presented in court by the state prosecutor and suspects’ lawyers.
Mutabingwa said delaying to give ruling on the application amounted to denial of bail.
“I met my clients who said I should halt the process of going to the High Court. We are meeting on Tuesday to have a final discussion on the matter. They were not comfortable with going to High Court. They think the file will take long time like in the Magistrate Court,” Mutabingwa said.
Five Red Pepper Publications Limited directors and three editors have been in prison since November 21st. They were arrested following police raid of their offices in Namanve, along Jinja Road.
The raid and arrest was triggered by a story published in The Red Pepper issue of November 20 indicating that President Yoweri Museveni was plotting to overthrow his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame.