Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye went missing in Nairobi in November 2024 and appeared days later before a military court in Kampala. After Uganda's Supreme Court barred military trials of civilians, he was charged in a civilian court with treason and misprision of treason alongside Obeid Lutale and Captain Denis Oola. All three deny the charges, not guilty pleas have been recorded, and they are presumed innocent.
As of 31 October 2026 Besigye, Lutale and Oola remain on remand on treason and misprision of treason charges, deny them and have not been convicted. The High Court trial before Justice Emmanuel Baguma is continuing in Besigye's absence after his collapse in July, and a third prosecution witness testified on 22 October, the Daily Monitor reported. Reported talks on his release have been denied by his party and his wife, Nile Post reported.
Human Rights Watch said 36 supporters of the Forum for Democratic Change, the party Besigye once led, were abducted in Kisumu, Kenya, by Kenyan and Ugandan security officials and charged with terrorism in Kampala. Al Jazeera reported that Kenyan authorities arrested and deported them. Human Rights Watch said they were later released on bail.
Kizza Besigye, a four-time presidential candidate, went missing in Nairobi, where he had travelled for a book launch. His wife, UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima, said he had been kidnapped and was being held in a military jail in Kampala.
Besigye appeared before the General Court Martial at Makindye in Kampala with his aide Obeid Lutale. The Associated Press reported charges of illegal possession of firearms and seeking military support abroad to destabilise Uganda's forces. Both denied the charges and were remanded to Luzira Prison until 2 December.
Korir Sing'oei, principal secretary in Kenya's foreign ministry, told local media that Kenya was not involved, according to the Associated Press. The Daily Monitor reported that he called it an abduction that was not the act of the Kenyan government and said the interior ministry was investigating.
Uganda's information minister Chris Baryomunsi said the government does not carry out abductions and that arrests abroad are made in collaboration with the host country, Al Jazeera and the Daily Monitor reported.
At a briefing at Kenya's Foreign Affairs Ministry, Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi said the Besigye case should not be used to judge Kenya harshly and that Nairobi and Kampala were working to resolve the matter, The Star and Citizen Digital reported.
A military prosecutor amended the charge sheet to add a charge of treachery, which carries the death penalty, and a serving army officer as a third accused, the Associated Press reported. JURIST named the officer as Captain Denis Ola, spelled Oola in the later civilian charges reported by Reuters.
The military court ruled that Besigye would stand trial on the treachery charge, according to the Associated Press. Besigye, who had denied the original charges, remained in custody.
Associated Press (via News4Jax)Uganda's Supreme Court held that military courts lack jurisdiction to try civilians and ordered ongoing civilian trials before courts martial to stop and move to ordinary courts, AFP and Human Rights Watch reported. Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo announced the ruling. The Independent identified the case as the Attorney General's appeal against Michael Kabaziguruka. Human Rights Watch said the court did not void past convictions.
Winnie Byanyima said on 12 February that Besigye had begun a hunger strike over his detention, Reuters reported. Al Jazeera reported that his lawyer later said he had become critically ill and that he looked frail at a court appearance.
Information Minister Chris Baryomunsi announced late on Sunday that Besigye's case would move to a civilian court, after visiting him in prison and urging him to end the hunger strike, Al Jazeera reported. Besigye was taken in a wheelchair to a health clinic in Kampala.
Al JazeeraAt the Nakawa Chief Magistrate's Court, Besigye, Obeid Lutale and Captain Denis Oola were charged with treason and concealment of treason, also called misprision of treason, Reuters reported. The court did not take a plea because only a higher court can try the offences. The EastAfrican reported that his lawyer Erias Lukwago said Besigye had ended his hunger strike.
Justice Rosette Comfort Kania of the High Court in Kampala denied bail to Besigye and Lutale, citing the gravity of the treason charge and a risk that they could interfere with ongoing investigations, The Independent and The EastAfrican reported.
Uganda's Parliament passed the UPDF (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which permits military courts to try civilians in some circumstances, over opposition objections that it re-enacts the provision struck down by the Supreme Court, according to Parliament and Reuters.
In a Citizen TV interview, Musalia Mudavadi said Kenya had cooperated with the Ugandan authorities and that Besigye was not seeking asylum, AFP reported. Kenya had previously denied involvement.
Chief Magistrate Christine Nantege at Nakawa committed Besigye, Lutale and Oola to the High Court for trial on treason and misprision of treason after the prosecution said investigations were complete. Defence lawyers walked out after a bid to halt proceedings was declined.
Parliament announced that President Yoweri Museveni had assented to the UPDF (Amendment) Act, 2025, allowing military tribunals to try civilians, Reuters reported on 17 June. Opposition leaders said it violated the Supreme Court ruling.
Reuters (via Citizen Digital)Justice Emmanuel Baguma rejected an application for mandatory bail by Besigye and Lutale, finding that the 180 days on remand counted from 21 February 2025, when the civilian charges were read, and had not passed, Nile Post and The Observer reported. The Observer and The Independent reported that he ordered the case be given priority for hearing.
Justice Baguma declined a defence request that he recuse himself over alleged bias linked to his bail ruling, and rejected an argument that the case belonged in the International Crimes Division, Nile Post reported on 15 October.
Justice Baguma found that an application by Besigye and Lutale to stay the proceedings and be released lacked merit and ordered plea-taking to proceed, NTV Uganda and Nile Post reported. Both outlets described it as the fourth time the two had been denied bail. Defence lawyers called the move an ambush and argued the indictment was invalid, Nile Post reported.
After Besigye, Lutale and Oola declined to plead, with Besigye and Oola saying they needed their lawyers' advice, Justice Baguma recorded pleas of not guilty for all three accused and appointed assessors, the Daily Monitor reported. New Vision also reported that the judge recorded not guilty pleas for all three.
Justice Baguma ordered pre-trial matters completed by 8 June and the prosecution to begin calling witnesses by 11 June. The defence said it needed more time to review about ten hours of audio and video evidence, The Independent reported. New Vision reported the trial was set to begin on 11 June.
Besigye and Lutale did not come to court, saying earlier concerns were unresolved, and only Oola appeared in the dock, Nile Post reported. The judge issued a production warrant and did not set a date for a pending bail application.
Erias Lukwago, a former Kampala Lord Mayor and one of Besigye's lawyers, was charged at a magistrate's court in Kampala with misprision of treason, accused of failing to report that Besigye intended to commit treason. He denies the charge and was remanded, the Daily Monitor and People Daily reported.
Martha Karua, a former Kenyan justice minister on Besigye's defence team, was stopped at Entebbe airport and sent back to Kenya, the BBC and The EastAfrican reported. She said she was told she was persona non grata and called the refusal unlawful. The Law Society of Kenya asked Uganda to explain.
Justice Baguma dismissed an application by Besigye and Lutale to halt the treason charges over their alleged abduction and rights violations, calling it an abuse of court process, and ordered the trial to proceed on 13 July, The Independent and Africanews reported. Nile Post and PlusNews reported he also dismissed their bail application for want of prosecution after they declined to argue it without their chosen lawyers. AFP reported the trial opened on Monday 13 July.
Besigye declined to accept lawyers from a state-approved list, saying the lawyers he chose had been arrested or barred from Uganda, AFP reported. The judge gave him two weeks to accept counsel and adjourned to 29 July.
Besigye collapsed during a court session in Kampala and was taken away by ambulance, Reuters and the Associated Press reported. The AP said he had shouted 'stop' several times before falling. The AP reported that Byanyima later said he was in intensive care at a public hospital in Kampala and unresponsive, and that he had been taken to Mulago Hospital.
Justice Baguma ruled the trial could proceed in Besigye's absence after a prisons officer said he had declined to attend, while Lutale said he was in hospital, The Observer reported. The prosecution's first witness, a US-based investigator, testified about meetings with Besigye. The EastAfrican also reported the trial continuing without him.
Byanyima said Besigye had been moved to the Joint Clinical Research Centre and was still very weak. Prisons spokesperson Frank Baine said the transfer followed a court order and the recommendations of a Mulago medical team and that Besigye and Lukwago, who was also moved, were stable, The EastAfrican reported. Nile Post reported that the Uganda Prisons Service confirmed the transfer.
Under cross-examination by the defence, the prosecution's first witness said two pistols found at the Nairobi apartment where Besigye and Lutale were arrested after meeting him on 16 November 2024 had been planted as part of an intelligence operation, the Daily Monitor reported. Citizen Digital and PML Daily also reported his testimony that guns and money found there had been placed deliberately. Citizen Digital reported he said he assumed Kenyan police organised the meeting's logistics.
The prosecution's first witness told the court he had been working for the Ugandan government when he secretly gathered information on Besigye, the Daily Monitor and Citizen Digital reported. Citizen Digital said he admitted his first police statement did not mention Lutale or Oola.
Justice Baguma adjourned the trial when prosecutors were absent, setting 5 October as a last adjournment, the Daily Monitor and Nile Post reported. A ruling on admitting a flash disk tendered through the second prosecution witness, a language expert, was pending, the Daily Monitor reported.
The High Court ruled that the witness who presented an envelope and a flash disk was not competent to tender them as evidence, but kept them on record for identification, the Daily Monitor reported on 9 October.
Politician Doreen Nyanjura told the Daily Monitor that Besigye cannot speak and is having speech and physical therapy after his stay in intensive care. Byanyima said proceedings continue in his absence despite medical reports that he is unfit for trial.
A police detective, the third prosecution witness, described phones, watches and covert recording devices he said the first witness used in Athens, Geneva and Nairobi, the Daily Monitor reported. Lutale and Oola were in the dock. All three accused deny the charges and are presumed innocent.
PML Daily and Nile Post reported that Gen Salim Saleh was said to be leading efforts toward a political resolution of the case, with no official confirmation of any deal. Besigye's party, the People's Front for Freedom, and Byanyima denied that any negotiations were under way. On 30 October Saleh said he had visited Besigye but declined to confirm the reports, Nile Post reported.
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Human Rights Watch · hrw.org Al Jazeera · aljazeera.com
Associated Press (via The Washington Times) · m.washingtontimes.com Associated Press (via News4Jax) · news4jax.com
JURIST · jurist.org
AFP (via Eyewitness News) · ewn.co.za Human Rights Watch · hrw.org Al Jazeera · aljazeera.com Reuters (via Citizen Digital) · citizen.digital Reuters (via Citizen Digital) · citizen.digital
AllAfrica · allafrica.com AllAfrica · allafrica.com AllAfrica · allafrica.com The Independent (Uganda), republished by AllAfrica · allafrica.com
People Daily · peopledaily.digital
Africanews · africanews.com Citizen Digital · citizen.digital Citizen Digital · citizen.digital Nile Post, republished by AllAfrica · allafrica.com The Independent (Uganda), republished by AllAfrica · allafrica.com Nile Post, republished by AllAfrica · allafrica.com Nile Post, republished by AllAfrica · allafrica.comLast updated 31 October 2026. Spotted an error? See corrections. Every event links to the record it comes from. Allegations are attributed to whoever made them.