Court ruling in case of jailed lawyer Kiiza’s quest for freedom deferred

The High Court in Kampala has fixed March 3 as the date it will deliver its ruling on whether or not to order the release of jailed lawyer Eron Kiiza, who was summarily convicted and sentenced to nine months in prison by the General Court Martial in Maindye, Kampala.

Presiding judge Douglas Singiza set the ruling date after brief submissions, including whether the application should be argued before a Criminal or Civil Division of the High Court by Kiiza’s lawyers led by Mr Peter Walubiri and the Attorney General’s side led by Mr Johnson Natuhwera.

On February 6 this year, Mr Kiiza who is also one of remanded veteran opposition politician, Dr Kizza Besigye’s lawyers petitioned the High Court through habeas corpus application, seeking to be freed on grounds that his conviction was illegal.

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He claimed the nine-month sentence imposed on him by the General Court Martial sitting in Makindye was illegal and unconstitutional and that it would be unjust for him to continue serving the same, given that the Supreme Court in its January 31 landmark judgement said it was unconditional to prosecute civilians in military courts.

“It is unjust, inequitable, and against the tenets of constitutionalism, rule of law, and good governance for the applicant (Eron Kiiza) to continue in detention as a result of an illegal, unconstitutional conviction and sentence,” reads in part the habeas corpus application before the court.

On January 7 this year, Eron Kiiza appeared before the General Court Martial as one of the lawyers representing Dr Besigye.

He was subdued by soldiers on accusations of exhibiting gross professional misconduct when he allegedly confronted a court orderly while he guided him on where to sit in the court in a very highly charged environment before allegedly assaulting him.

Then presiding chairman, Brig Gen Robert Freeman Mugabe without giving him a hearing, summarily convicted and sentenced him to nine months in prison at Kitalya on charges of contempt of court.

But Kiiza contends that he is a beneficiary of the Supreme Court landmark ruling that clipped the powers of the General Courts-martial from trying civilians.

The justices led by Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny Dollo observed that those who would appear before the military courts would not get justice because the courts’ weren’t independent in their current structure because they derive their powers from the High Command of the army.

The Supreme Court held: “All charges, or ongoing criminal trials, or pending trials, before the courts-martial involving civilians, must immediately cease and be transferred to the ordinary courts of law with competent jurisdiction,”

In an affidavit to support counsel Kiiza’s application, Mr Ronald Samuel Wanda stated that as a lawyer, he is alive to the fact that once a given court has been declared to have no jurisdiction, the sentences and orders made by such a court are a nullity and as such, the continued detention of Kiiza amounts to a violation of his rights personal liberty.