Prominent Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye has appeared before a military court in the capital, Kampala, where he has denied charges that include the illegal possession of firearms and negotiating to buy arms abroad.
His appearance comes after his wife said he was kidnapped in neighbouring Kenya last Saturday and sent back home where was being held in a military jail.
In a post on X, Winnie Byanyima wrote that her 68-year-old husband had been seized in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, during a book launch event – and she demanded the Ugandan government free him.
Besigye was told during the military court hearing, held amid heavy security, that he would remain in custody until 2 December.
Besigye – who has contested and lost four presidential elections against President Yoweri Museveni – appeared along with his co-accused, opposition politician Obedi Lutale, who also denied the charges.
The four counts they face include being found with two pistols and ammunition in a hotel in the Kenyan capital and negotiating for arms with foreigners in the Swiss city of Geneva, the Greek capital, Athens, and Nairobi.
The BBC asked the Ugandan government for comment following the overnight tweet from Ms Byanyima, who is a respected human rights advocate and executive director of UNAids – the joint UN programme set up to eradicate.
The government did not respond, but Uganda’s military spokesman Felix Kulayigye then told a local media agency that Besige would be arraigned at a military court on Wednesday afternoon, without expressly stating if the military was holding him.
On his arrival at the Makindye military court – after being incommunicado for days, Besigye waved to the gathered journalists and senior members of his Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party.
As the hearing got under way, Besigye objected to being tried in a court martial, saying that if there were any charges against him he would like to be tried in a civilian court.
But he was overruled and the hearing continued.
Earlier his wife had said in her tweet: “He is not a soldier. Why is he being held in a military jail?”
Besigye used to be Museveni’s personal doctor but went on to become an opposition leader and has referred to the leader of the East African country, who has been in power since 1986, as a “dictator”.
He has alleged that previous presidential elections were rigged – a claim denied by the government – and has been arrested on numerous occasions in the past.
On one occasion he was shot in the hand; on another he suffered eye injuries after being doused in pepper spray.
The authorities have accused him of provoking them, and he has been charged with inciting violence. —BBC
