Justice Baguma Refuses to Recuse Himself From Besigye trial

The High Court in Kampala has dismissed an application by opposition figure Dr. Kizza Besigye and his co-accused Hajji Obeid Lutale seeking to have their treason case transferred to the International Crimes Division (ICD) of the Highcourt.

Trial judge Emmanuel Baguma has ruled that the Criminal Division of the High Court is the proper forum clothed with jurisdiction to hear Besigye and Lutale’s treason case there by rejecting claims by the them that the current court lacked jurisdiction.

Justice Baguma has also watered down claims by Dr. Beigye suggesting that he should recuse himself from hearing the case and subsquent bail applications alleging that the judge is either incompetent or biased for rejecting their bid to mandatory bail.

In his ruling delivered on Wednesday, Justice Baguma has stated that records from the Nakawa court which committed Besigye and co-suspects for trial and a subsequent forwarding letter to the registrar of the criminal division of the Highcourt and the numerous bail applications filed shows that the accused had their lawyers acknowledge that the criminal division is the proper court to try them.

Justice Baguma has emphasized that the committal documents clearly indicate that Besigye and Lutale were sent to the High Court for trial hence the allocation of the case to the trial judge via Eccmis.( Electronic Case management system ).

On the issue of bias, Justice Baguma said Besigye’s claims were unfounded, noting that an earlier decision to deny mandatory bail cannot be used to question a judge’s competence. The judge has added that dissatisfaction with a court’s ruling should be addressed through proper legal channels rather than accusations of bias.

The judge has further held that the pending complaint before the Judicial Service Commission where Besigye seeks that Justuce Baguma is removed from the Office of the judge does not bar him from continuing to hear the case.

Justice Baguma’s ruling follows an application in which Dr. Besigye argued that he and his co-accused, Lutale and Captain Dennis Oola were committed by the Nakawa Chief Magistrate’s Court to the ICD, not the Criminal Division. He contended that the alleged transfer of the file to the Criminal Division was a deliberate move to prolong their detention.

During the hearing of the application , The prosecution team led by Chief State Attorney Richard Birivumbuka and Assistant DPP Thomas Jatiko maintained that the reference to the ICD in the indictment was a clerical/typo error and would be amended at the trial.

The prosecutors argued that treason charges fall squarely under the jurisdiction of the High Court’s Criminal Division as the ICD is a specialised division to handle particular cases involving crimes against Humanity.

Justice Baguma has then dismissed applications for his recusal and the transfer of the case and directed that the matter be fixed for trial.

However Besigye has given express instructions to his Lawyers led by Ernest Kalibbala to refer the matter to the Constitutional court to determine if its proper for justice Baguma to continue presiding over the case when there is a pending complaint seeking his removal from the Office of a judge pending before the Judicial Service commisison.

Besigye further wants the Constitutional court to determine whether in light of the complaint he made against justice Baguma, he will stand a fair trial.

His lawyers want the reference to be made under A (137(5) of the Constitution which provides that any question arising in any proceedings in a court of law other than a field court martial the, court must refer the matter and await the determination of the Constitutional question.