Eron Kiiza has reacted strongly to the latest testimony in Dr Kizza Besigye’s treason case, following prosecution witness Andrew Wilson, alias Orlando, telling the High Court that he was working for the Ugandan government while gathering intelligence on the opposition politician.
The admission came during re-examination on Thursday, September 17, when Chief State Attorney Richard Birivumbuka asked Wilson to clarify who he was working for during his interactions with Besigye and his associates.
“Ugandan government,” Wilson replied, adding that his assignment was to gather information. He said the operation initially focused on Joel Wakayima and his network before Besigye became a subject of the intelligence-gathering exercise.
Wilson also confirmed that the November 16, 2024 meeting at Riverside Apartments in Nairobi, where Besigye and his aide Obeid Lutale were arrested, had been “stage-managed”. He described the arrangement as a common law-enforcement practice.
The witness had earlier told court that the two guns and alleged fake currency found at the Nairobi apartment had been placed there as part of an intelligence operation. The prosecution says the recordings Wilson obtained during meetings in Nairobi, Athens and Geneva form part of its evidence against Besigye, Lutale and UPDF Captain Denis Oola.
Reacting to the development, lawyer and human rights advocate Eron Kiiza said the latest evidence vindicated concerns that he and other rights defenders had previously raised about the use of state institutions against political opponents.
“We told you. Did we not?” Kiiza said, arguing that information emerging from the trial was gradually revealing what he described as the broader reality surrounding Uganda’s political and legal environment.
He said human rights defenders had for years faced threats, arrests, prosecutions, alleged torture and lawsuits that he characterised as attempts to silence their work.
Kiiza further linked Wilson’s admission to his concerns about the independence of Uganda’s justice system, arguing that political cases should be determined through independent judicial processes rather than security operations.
“The weaponisation of the courts to persecute political opponents can no longer be denied,” Kiiza said.
He specifically cited the cases involving Besigye and former Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, who have faced separate legal proceedings, while criticising public statements by military officials concerning detained political figures.
Kiiza also invoked Article 23(6) of Uganda’s Constitution, which provides for the right to apply for bail, alongside Article 28(3)(a), which establishes the presumption of innocence.
“A court that can be commanded is no court at all,” he said, warning that using the justice system as an instrument of political reprisal would have consequences beyond the individuals currently facing prosecution.
Wilson has now completed his testimony as the first prosecution witness.
The prosecution subsequently began presenting its second witness, while the defence has continued challenging the circumstances surrounding the Nairobi operation and the reliability of evidence gathered during the intelligence exercise.