Uganda Restores Military Trials for Civilians

Uganda’s president signed a new law this week allowing military tribunals to try civilians under certain circumstances – even though the supreme court had ruled such a measure illegal, Africanews reported. 

President Yoweri Museveni signed a bill Monday allowing the trials after the Ugandan parliament passed the measure to address some of these issues. Opposition lawmakers boycotted the vote, saying the new bill violated the Supreme Court’s decision in January that these trials were unconstitutional. Judges argued that military tribunals were neither impartial nor competent to carry out judicial functions. The amendment appears to try to address some of the court’s objections.  

Before the ruling, civilians could be prosecuted by military tribunals if found with military equipment, such as guns or army uniforms, according to the BBC. 

Government and military officials say the new measure is necessary.

“The law will deal decisively with armed violent criminals, deter the formation of militant political groups that seek to subvert democratic processes, and ensure national security is bound on a firm foundational base. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” an army spokesperson wrote on X. 

The president added that military tribunals would only prosecute civilians who use guns for political violence, adding that civilian courts were too busy to “handle these gun-wielding criminals quickly.” However, if that were the case, the prior law would have been sufficient, opponents said. 

Instead, opponents such as human rights groups have been accusing the Ugandan government of resorting to military courts to persecute political opponents of the president, who has been in power for almost four decades.  

Opposition leader Bobi Wine said the law would be used against him and others in opposition. “All of us in the opposition are being targeted by the act,” he told Agence-France Presse. 

Human rights lawyer Gawaya Tegulle told the BBC that people can spend years in detention on remand, waiting for decisions from senior military figures, which may never come. Moreover, those who are found guilty by those courts face harsher penalties than they would in civilian courts. 

The Uganda Law Society, a professional body representing the country’s lawyers, said it will “challenge the constitutionality” of the amendment.