Court directs on case against two MPs
MPs Allan Ssewanyana (L) and Muhammad Ssegirinya (R) gesture after addressing a press conference at the Opposition NUP party headquarters in Kampala on March 29, 2023. PHOTO/ISAAC KASAMANI
Court has issued directives on the procedure of the case in which lawyer Male Mabirizi is seeking to stop the trial of two bailed MPs accused of terrorism, murder, attempted murder and aiding and abetting terrorism.
Last year, Mabirizi filed an application seeking to halt the trial of the two legislators pending the determination of his constitutional petition.
The application followed a constitutional petition in which Mabirizi is challenging the legality of splitting and distributing the case files against the legislators to two different courts yet they result from one set of facts.
He asked the constitutional court to nullify the accused person's trial and declare it as illegal saying “the legislators were being persecuted because of their political beliefs.”
Justice Alice Komuhangi of the International Crimes Division of the High Court has April 3 directed that MP Allan Sewanyana and Muhammad Ssegirinya through their lawyers and the state shall reply to Mabirizi’s application between April 17 and May 3 this year.
The judge also declined to consolidate Mabirizi’s application with that filed by the MPs through their lawyers saying that “the applications will be handled separately because it is practically not possible to combine them.”
Justice Komuhangi agreed with Mr Samuel Muyizzi, the lawyer representing the MPs, saying that she will hear each application separately despite the fact that they are all seeking a similar prayer for halting the trial.
In 2021 Makindye West MP Ssewanyana and his Kawempe North Counterpart Ssegirinya were indicted on charges of terrorism, murder and attempted murder following a season of deadly attacks that left over 25 people killed in the Masaka Sub Region.
The legislators were charged jointly with four others who include Jackson Kanyike, John Mugerwa, Bull Wamala and Mike Sserwadda.
While the accused persons were committed to the High Court to answer these charges, the MPs were indicted on additional charges of murder and the case files were split with one case file before Masaka High Court.
