Ugandan lawmakers bring back military courts’ ability to try civilians

Ugandan lawmakers on Tuesday handed a government-backed bill to authorize civilian trials in military courts, defying accepted criticism by opposition figures and others who known because it a backward gesture.

The contentious legislation was as soon as launched earlier this year after the Supreme Court docket dominated that civilians can’t be court docket-martialed, questioning the competence of untrained military officers to dispense justice.

The bill states that civilians can also be court docket-martialed if their alleged offenses are “in strengthen of or in association with persons field to military law.” It also says that presiding officers hold to be certified in law.

But opposition figures, rights activists and others relate such legislation is an anti-democratic effort because the east African country heads into elections scheduled for 2026.

Human rights organisation Amnesty Global has warned that military courts would possibly presumably perhaps support “entrench repression ahead of the 2026 elections.”

Some individuals of the opposition walked out of the parliamentary chamber earlier than the bill was as soon as handed, protesting what they mentioned was as soon as an illegality.

The legislation is an try to “unconstitutionally grant judicial powers reserved for superior courts to subordinate military courts that hold surely ultimate jurisdiction to take care of handiest military disciplinary offenses,” the Uganda-based totally rights neighborhood Chapter Four mentioned in an announcement.

President Yoweri Museveni, an authoritarian chief who has held vitality in the east African country since 1986, is expected to set up the bill within days.

The president and his son, military commander Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, had condemned the Supreme Court docket’s resolution to successfully disband court docket-martials. Days after that ruling, government officers launched the formula of introducing legislation to back military courts active.

Museveni mentioned in an announcement following the court docket’s resolution that “the country is now not dominated by the judges.” He’s expected to trudge all yet again in polls put for January 2026.

Many Ugandans depend on an unpredictable political transition because the 80-year-light Museveni has no obtrusive successor within the ranks of the ruling National Resistance Move occasion.

Some observers worry that in future he would possibly presumably perhaps step apart in favor of Kainerugaba in a frigid coup. Kainerugaba has asserted his desire to be triumphant his father as president.

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