UGANDA: Uganda opposition leader Kizza Besigye freed on bail by a Kampala court as his supporters clash with police.

Record ID: 421452

  • Title: UGANDA: Uganda opposition leader Kizza Besigye freed on bail by a Kampala court as his supporters clash with police.
  • Date: 3rd January 2006
  • Summary: SLV POLICE TRUCK IN STREET; SUPPORTERS HOLDING "ROAD CLOSED" SIGN; POLICE TRUCK SHOOTING WATER CANNON, DRIVING DOWN STREET
  • Embargoed: 18th January 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Uganda
  • Country: Uganda
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA7UCOIOWYWVNRWWA6I1T6A8N5T
  • Story Text: A Ugandan judge ruled on Monday (January 2) that opposition leader and presidential candidate Kizza Besigye had been illegally detained and freed him on bail, clearing the way for him to begin campaigning for next month's election.
    Besigye, a top challenger to President Yoweri Museveni, faces twin trials on charges of treason and rape at the civilian High Court and terrorism and weapons offences at a military court-martial.
    After High Court Judge John Katutsi freed him, 49-year-old Besigye said he would begin campaigning for the February 23 polls after assessing his situation.
    His supporters took to the streets in celebration after the ruling, but police reacted quickly and fired tear gas to disperse them.
    Besigye, who had registered his candidacy from behind prison bars, was due to address a rally in the capital Kampala later on Monday.
    After the four-hour hearing, Katutsi ruled the military tribunal's authority to keep Besigye in prison had expired last month.
    The High Court had already agreed to grant Besigye bail after his civilian trial opened on December 19. Besigye has denied the charges.
    It is possible that the military court could order Besigye's re-arrest, since it has said it does not answer to the civilian High Court.
    Britain and other donors have cut aid to the east African nation because of the arrest, detention and trial of Besigye, whose popularity looks certain to provide a tough challenge to Museveni in the election.
    Besigye's Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party says the government trumped-up the charges to keep him from running against his former friend and ally.
    The government denies the charge, and Museveni said he relishes the chance to beat Besigye at the polls once again.
    Once Museveni's personal physician, including during the guerrilla war that brought him to power in 1986, Besigye was arrested on November 14.
    He fled Uganda in 2001, saying the government was trying to kill him after he lost a violence-marred election to Museveni.
    The two allies first fell out in 1998, after Besigye published an article challenging Uganda's democratic credentials and accused the president of becoming the type of African autocrat Museveni had often mocked.
    Museveni's image as a model African leader took a hit last year after his allies removed a constitutional term limit that would have mandated he step down once his second five-year term expired this year.
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