Africa-Press – Uganda. City Hall Magistrate’s Court has charged four city council speakers with unlawful assembly and remanded them to Luzira Prison.
The four council speakers from Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and Wakiso District were yesterday arraigned before Grade One Magistrate Edgar Karakire and charged with an offence of taking part in unlawful assembly, contrary to section 65(1) and 66 of the Penal Code Act.
The four suspects are Mr Hamza Kasozi,30, of Nansana Municipal Council, Mr Charles Lwanga Luba,36, of Makindye, Mr Justus Akampurira,30, of Kawempe Division Council and 33-year-old software engineer Mr Nasif Najja.
Prosecution led by Mr Timothy Aduti alleges that the suspects on February 27 at Parliament, being assembled with intent to carryout common purpose, conducted themselves in such a manner as to cause persons in the neighborhood reasonable fear that the persons assembled would cause a breach of peace, obstruction of traffic flow and malicious damage to property.
The suspects applied for bail but the trial magistrate adjourned the matter to March 3 for ruling.
Mr Karakire before remanding the suspects noted that he needed to first verify the documents that were submitted by the sureties.
The four speakers, who appeared in chains, were blocked and arrested by police at the main gate of Parliament.
Kampala Metropolitan Police deputy spokesperson Luke Owoyesigyire said while the speakers claimed that they were taking a petition to the Speaker of Parliament, they felt like it was not the right way.
The speakers accused the government of detaining the National Unity Platform (NUP)supporters, whom they described as political prisoners.
They said the government is illegally detaining the supporters because some of them have not been charged within the constitutional provision of 48 hours or released after six months of detention.
“Our 31 comrades have been rotting in military detention without trial for more than two years, this gross violation of human rights must be put to an end,” Mr Akampurira said.
“We came here to shine a light on the continued incarceration of political prisoners, it is overdue, free all political prisoners,” he added.
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