The General Court Martial in Makindye has dropped charges against five UPDF soldiers and two police officers who were accused of spying for Rwanda.
The army court prosecutor, Capt Ambrose Guma told court chaired by Brig Mugabe Freeman that he has instructions from the director of criminal prosecutions to discontinue charges against the five who include Lt Alex Kasamula attached to Military Police at Makindye, Lt Phillip Neville Ankunda, a pilot attached to the Special Forces Command (SFC), Pte Nathan Ndwaine, a student of flight engineering and maintenance at Nakasongola Air Defence facility, Pte Moses Asiimwe, an aeroplane mechanical engineer and Pte Godfrey Mugabi.
The police officers included ASP Benon Akandwanaho and ASP Frank Sabiiti.
“Therefore, we pray all the accused persons are discharged,” Capt Baguma said.
In response, the army court chairman accepted the request .
“The state has withdrawn charges against you all in the dock and accordingly you are set free,” Brig Mugabe said.
He however warned that if fresh evidence is brought , they can be charged afresh.
The charges
It was alleged that between February and May 2020 in various parts of Kampala, the accused and others still at large, shared various security information with agents of the Rwandan government with the intent to prejudice Uganda’s security.
They were accused of creating a Whatsapp group, 'Nyaruju' where they added Rwandan spies and shared information injurious to the cohesion of the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF).
They however denied the charges.
The group was arrested in 2020 on suspicion of espionage for the Rwandan government at a time when the relations between the Kigali establishment and Uganda were at their worst.