Africa-Press – Uganda. City Hall Court has deferred the hearing of the case in which presidential candidate Lt Gen (rtd) Henry Tumukunde is charged with the unlawful possession of firearms and treason to January 21 next year.
This means that the 61-year-old retired senior army officer will reappear in court after the presidential elections, which are slated to take place on January 14.
Grade One Magistrate Valerian Tuhimbise was today expected to rule on an application in which Tumukunde wants the High Court to investigate what he terms as a purported infringement of his constitutional rights.
The court, however, was unable to deliver the ruling after state attorney Lilian Omara asked for more time to file its reply to the application.
Tumukunde through his lawyers Anthony Wameli and Geofrey Turyamusiima contends that he was kept in detention for over six days without trial from where he was allegedly tortured and denied access to his doctors which are contrary to section 7 of the Human Rights Enforcement Act.
“We want his trial terminated because of infringement on his personal liberty. We, therefore, want this court to forward this file to the High Court for investigation. He cannot be tried without the court investigating the torture allegations meted on him while in Police custody,” Turyamusiima argues.
Tumukunde accuses the magistrate of failure to investigate a violation of his human rights while in Police custody and at Luzira Prisons where he claims he was detained in solitary confinement.
Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment distinguished by living in single cells with little or no meaningful contact with other inmates, strict measures to control contraband, and the use of additional security measures and equipment.
The charges
The prosecution alleges that the 61-year-old Tumukunde was on March 13, 2020, at Impala Avenue Kololo found in possession of a modified AK-47 rifle N0. 19865-BU3618 and a star pistol N0.EL-860030 without holding a valid firearms certificate.
The state also alleges that on March 5, 2020, during the morning show at a local television station in Kamwokya, Tumukunde made treasonous utterances.
He purportedly said, “If I was Rwanda, I would wish to support people who want to cause change in Uganda.”
The DPP says such talk was aimed at encouraging Rwanda to invade Uganda to cause the unlawful change of government.
