Veteran Politician Rtd Col Dr. Kizza Besigye and his aide Hajji Obeid Lutale have yet again declined to appear before High court Judge Emmanuel Baguma over alleged bias in their bail hearing.
During a hearing on Tuesday, defence Lawyer Erias Lukwago informed court that the duo would not appear in Baguma’s court who had already ruled that they should not waste time on applying for bail but rather concentrate on the main case.
Lukwago further noted that the duo’s treason case was wrongly put before Justice Baguma, since the same case is supposed to be heard before the International Crimes Division court, where the Besigye and Lutale were committed to by the Nakawa court.
The imprisoned treason suspects through their lawyers in August requested Justice Baguma to withdraw from the case hearing after Besigye’s defence team of Lukwago & Co. Advocates raised serious concerns over procedural delays and alleged bias from the judge towards their clients in handling the case.
In a letter dated August 15, 2025, filed by Lukwago & Co. Advocates on behalf of the applicants, the defense argued that the prolonged delay in fixing a hearing date despite the case having been filed in April 2025 coupled with the dismissal of their earlier bail application, raised serious concerns regarding procedural fairness and the possibility of judicial partiality.
Lukwago had appeared before justice Baguma for further directions regarding the second bail application of the duo after the judge dismissed the earlier one in which they had wanted to be released after spending the mandatory 180 days on remand at Luzira Prison without trial.
Besigye and Lutale are now asking that their second bail application be re-allocated to another judge for hearing.
However Justice Baguma refused to recuse himself from case and rather insisted to hear it on 8th October by issuing production warrants for the duo to be brought to his courtroom on that day by prison authorities.
