The trial of the former Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura, is being held in camera, the chairman of the military court, Lt Gen Andrew Gutti, has said.
However, Gen Gutti declined to divulge more details on when Gen Kayihura’s trial started and why it’s being conducted in camera.
“It took off but it will be open for public consumption at a later stage,” the chairman of the court said by telephone yesterday.
The four star army general is currently out on bail. . .
What?
It appears that the justification for the exclusion of the public will not be available for as long as the court order is in place.
ReplyDeleteThe Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces Act (2005), Part IX, Section 212 (2) states, “Where a military court considers that it is expedient in the interest of public safety, defence or public morals that the public should be excluded during the whole or any part of a trial, the court may make an order to that effect, and any such order shall be recorded in the record of the proceedings of the military court.”
Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces Act (2005), Part IX, Section 212 (2) appears to loosely map the language of Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Dr. Ronald Naluwairo has an informative piece on the development of Uganda’s military justice system ((2018) 2 Global Campus Human Rights Journal 59-76). It includes a discussion of the difference between excluding the public for "public safety" (as articulated in The Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces Act (2005)) and excluding the public for "public order" (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 14).
Dr. Naluwairo's article can be found at https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0f2e/d600c8854eb4733e5ed0bcbbfdb2c2a60349.pdf
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