The wife of a Ugandan opposition leader who was “abducted” says he will not get justice

Kizza Besigye’s wife said she doesn’t think he will get a fair trial after he was arrested in nearby Kenya, brought back to Uganda, and charged with weapons possession and other crimes in a military court.

Winnie Byanyima said last week that her husband was taken away as he was getting ready to go to a book launch in Nairobi on November 16. Both Amnesty International and a top official at Kenya’s foreign ministry have called it an abduction.

Chris Baryomunsi, a spokesman for Uganda’s government, said last week that his country does not kidnap people and that arrests made abroad are done with the help of host countries. He did not say anything about the specific case, though.

Reuters talked to Winnie Byanyima in Kampala on Saturday. “We don’t expect to get justice in the military court,” she said.

“All we can do is wait for them to show up in a regular court,” Byanyima, who is also the head of the UNAIDS office, said.

Byanyima said the charges were made for political reasons and told President Yoweri Museveni, “Stop and think, because this solution of criminalizing and getting rid of opposition through criminalization is wrong.”

Felix Kulayigye, a spokesman for the Ugandan military, told reporters that the court would follow the law and not listen to her.

“We have confidence in the court,” he told us. “The court follows the laws and rules of the country.” The way our country’s courts work allows for that, and they dole out justice fairly and successfully.

Museveni used to be friends with Besigye and use him as a doctor when the older leader was out in the bush fighting the government in the 1980s.

After they had a fight, Besigye ran against Museveni for president four times and lost each time, calling the results “fraudulent” each time.

Rights and opposition leaders in Uganda have long said that Museveni’s government uses the military court to punish political opponents. The government rejects this claim.

Byanyima said she had gone to see her husband in jail and he had told her that the people who took him away had been speaking a Ugandan language, which led him to believe that they were Ugandan.

Byanyima asked Uganda’s Western donors, like the US and UK, to put pressure on the Ugandan government to free her husband.

“They should say something when the government takes an opposition leader from another country.” “That should be called wrong,” she said.

Rights groups have said that Kenya should not send people back to their home states to face punishment. Kenya’s government said last week that it had nothing to do with Besigye’s detention and was looking into the case.