Opposition politician Dr. Kizza Besigye and his co-accused Hajji Obeid Lutale have asked the High Court Criminal Division to terminate the treason case against them, arguing that their prosecution is the product of an unlawful abduction from Kenya, illegal military detention and a series of violations of their constitutional rights.
In a Notice of Motion filed before the High Court, the two applicants seek declarations that the treason and misprision of treason proceedings against them are unconstitutional and should be nullified.
The application, filed against Chief of Defence Forces Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Col. Peter Ahimbisibwe, Lt. Col. Ephraim Byaruhanga and the Attorney General, asks the court to declare that the applicants’ “trial and indictment on the counts of treason and misprision of treason is a violation of the principles of fair trial, human rights, the rule of law and extradition law, and is accordingly null and void.”
At the centre of the application are allegations that Besigye and Lutale were illegally removed from Nairobi, Kenya, on November 16, 2024.
According to the court documents, the two had travelled to Nairobi to attend a book launch at the invitation of Kenyan politician Martha Karua when they were allegedly “unlawfully, forcefully and violently abducted by Ugandan security agencies and driven back to Uganda under cover of night.”
The applicants contend that “no legal or due process was observed” during the operation and argue that the alleged rendition rendered their subsequent prosecution legally impermissible.
Upon arrival in Kampala, the application states, the pair were detained incommunicado at Makindye Military Barracks for four days.
The filing alleges that they were denied access to lawyers, family members and medical personnel, were not informed of the reasons for their detention and were subjected to interrogation while being held in a military facility not gazetted for civilian detainees.
The applicants seek declarations that the detention violated constitutional protections on personal liberty, due process and freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
“Four-day incommunicado military detention of the civilian Applicants in Makindye Military Barracks,” the application states, violated their constitutional rights and exceeded the 48-hour limit within which suspects must be produced before a competent court.
The court documents further claim that the operation resulted in the confiscation of the applicants’ telephones and the loss of personal belongings left behind in Nairobi.
According to the filing, Besigye and Lutale were produced before the General Court Martial on November 20, 2024 and charged with security-related offences and unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition before being remanded to Luzira Prison.
The applicants state that they repeatedly objected to the military proceedings through their lawyers.
Following the Supreme Court decision in Attorney General v Kabaziguruka on January 31, 2025, the pair were charged before the Nakawa Chief Magistrate’s Court with treason and misprision of treason on February 21, 2025.
They were later committed to the High Court on May 29, 2025.
However, the application argues that the committal proceedings were flawed because they were conducted “in the absence of any Advocate representing the Applicants.”
The applicants are also challenging delays in the commencement of their trial.
The filing notes that since August 8, 2025, they have been appearing before the High Court in Criminal Session Case No. 335 of 2025 but that, as of June 2026, the trial had not commenced.
They attribute the delay to late disclosure by the prosecution and argue that the delay breached their constitutional right to a fair and speedy trial.
The application is heavily critical of statements allegedly made by Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba concerning Besigye while the case was pending.
Among the statements cited is a January 16, 2025 post allegedly stating: “We will hang KB on Heroes’ Day. That’s the best day for him to die.”
The applicants also cite a February 19, 2026 statement that read: “Besigye wanted to kill Mzee, so as far as we are concerned, UPDF, he is a dead man walking.”
Another statement quoted in the filing says: “I think we might hang Besigye by next month. If we don’t hang him, we will shoot him dead. That will be a great day for Uganda.”
According to the application, the statements amount to “direct threats to life, psychological and mental torture, the public prejudgment of guilt, and interference with the independence and impartiality of the Court.”
The applicants argue that public pronouncements of guilt by the country’s top military officer undermine the presumption of innocence and contaminate the atmosphere required for a fair trial.
In a supporting affidavit, lawyer Tumusiime Kakuru, a member of the defence team, says the cumulative effect of the alleged violations has fundamentally compromised the proceedings.
“As an Advocate of the High Court of Uganda, I know that a trial that is unfair is no trial at all,” Kakuru states.
Besigye and Lutale are asking the High Court to nullify and terminate the criminal proceedings against them, order their unconditional release from detention, direct the respondents to meet the costs of treatment and rehabilitation at the African Centre for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims (ACTV), and award costs of the application.