Dr Kizza Besigye and Obeid Kamulegeya at the army courtThe five-justices panel also ruled that soldiers sentenced to death or life sentences can’t appeal their sentences in civil courts, noting that the military courts were the ones established to address discipline within the rank and file of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF).

 
“In our view, the body of the UPDF Act specifically set out the army courts as a parallel judicial framework distinct and juxtaposed against the courts of judicature. It appears to have been contemplated that the UPDF courts were better placed to address discipline issues within the rank and file of the armed soldiers and better able to handle penal sanctions that, hopefully, deter further offending. It is through these structures that UPDF soldiers are made accountable. This can be inferred as the legislative intent,” the judgement reads in part. 

The judges made the eye-catching findings in a unanimous decision delivered in the case of Lt Ambrose Ogwang, a UPDF officer who was found guilty of murder by the army court and subsequently sentenced to 29 years in prison. Ogwang sought to overturn his conviction and sentence. 

Ogwang had won an appeal against his conviction and sentence in the Court of Appeal but the government appealed the matter before the Supreme court. The director of public prosecutions (DPP) raised a preliminary objection, saying the Court of Appeal had no power to hear an appeal from the court-martial. The judges upheld this finding.

 
“In the present case, we can safely conclude that the appellant being a soldier, was properly tried by the military court martial courts,” reads part of the judgement. 

The panel was led by justice Lilian Tibatemwa-Ekirikubinza. The other judges were Mike Chibita, Catherine Bamugemereire, Christopher Izama Madrama, and Stephen Musota. In 2020, the Attorney General appealed a decision by the Constitutional court which ruled that it was unconstitutional to try civilians in military courts.

 
The decision arose from a challenge by the former Nakawa member of parliament Michael Kabaziguruka, who challenged his trial in the military court calling it unconstitutional because he was not a serving member of the UPDF.  The same court in 2022 also made the same finding that military courts are not courts of judicature and therefore, can’t try civilians. The court ordered that all files in the court martial against civilians be transferred to civil courts. 

The Supreme court heard the appeal in May but is yet to give its ruling on the matter. Chief Justice Owinyi-Dollo, Faith Mwondah, Percy Night Tuhaise, Mike Chibita, Monica Mugenyi, Elizabeth Musoke, and Catherine Bamugemereire headed the panel that heard the matter. 

Of the seven, Mugenyi and Musoke were part of the panel that determined the matter when they were still at the Constitutional court. Of late there have been calls to the Supreme court to render its judgment in the matter as more civilians continue to be tried in the court-martial, the latest being Dr Kizza Besigye and Hajji Obed Kamulegya Lutale. 

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3 replies on “Civilians can’t be tried in military courts, Supreme court rules”

  1. Please note that the decision is strictly about serving members of the UPDF having no ground or room to appeal their sentences in appellate courts once convicted by the Court Marshal. It is not about Civilians being tried the Court Marshal. However, in the event that it is civilian appealing a Court Marshal sentence, how the appellate courts handle it, can be considered a conundrum arising out of the decision.

  3. DIVERSIONARY article, I thought court had ruled according to your heading!
    Eeh Ugandan tabloids🫢🫢🫢

  5. This cadre judges of the NRM supreme court needs to come out and convince the Uganda citizens, who seem to have been given forcibly the dodgy East African passports, that such their justice will be seen to be done. These learned African judges should see to it that if African civilians travel or visit the various member countries of the new East African union, they will not be abducted anyhow and at once locked up in prison by various military forces, and later to be judged by a confused and brutal military tribunal! The Kingdom state of Buganda has no such agreements with the Union of the East African countries. Indeed that is why the former King of Buganda, Sir Edward Frederick William David Walugembe Mutebi Luwangula Mutesa II KBE was very reluctant during the 1960s, to take His subjects to such African communities that are bent on denying their citizens universal human rights.

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