Another judge quits Besigye defamation case

Kampala. Another High Court judge has declined to hear a case in which former FDC presidential candidate Dr Kizza Besigye is charged with defamation.
The case was filed against Dr Besigye by Lt Col Ndahura Atwooki Birakurataki, the head of police Directorate of Crime Intelligence.

Lt Col Ndahura alleges that Dr Besigye defamed him in 2012 when he accused him of murdering Mr Johnson Baronda in Rukungiri District during the 2001 election and was rewarded with a promotion thereafter.
Justice Benjamin Kabiito declined to hear the case yesterday because he had not been consulted before the file was allocated to him.
High Court registrar, Mr Alex Ajiji, said the judge could not handle the case because he was handling a similar one about the same person.
“He is handling Dr Besigye’s case in which he is challenging his house arrest for 34 days now. He could not work on the two files at the same time,” he said.
The case file was sent back to the court registrar for re-allocation.

Justice Kabiito becomes the second judge to decline hearing the case against Dr Besigye.
The case was first heard by Justice Steven Musota who later withdrew, saying he could not insist on hearing a case where one party was not comfortable with him.
Lt Col Ndahura filed the suit in 2012, alleging that Dr Besigye in an interview with The Observer accused him of having murdered Baronda.

He wants court to issue a permanent injunction restraining Dr Besigye from publishing any further defamatory material against him and also be awarded costs of the suit.
Lt Col Ndahura also insists that the comments published by the newspaper attributed to Dr Besigye were false, defamatory and libelous for which he is claiming damages.
Dr Besigye in his defence claims that the interview was published in public interest and that it was not intended to ridicule Lt Col Ndahura as purported.
He also says he cannot retract his statement about the murder and promotion of the officer.

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