Police block Besigye from attending court, funeral service
Police on Monday blocked Dr Besigye (in suit) from leaving his Kasangati home to attend court and a funeral service of one of his friends. Courtesy Photo
Opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye has been blocked by police from leaving his home to attend court as well as the funeral service of one of his friend, Ms Enid Turitwenka currently underway at All Saints Church, Nakaseero.
Dr Besigye was on Monday expected to appear before Ms Mary Eleanor Khainza, the registrar of the High Court- Criminal Division for extension of his bail in a case in which he was charged with treason.
“No amount of "pleading" could get sense into heads of all these police officers to respect the law & my rights! I can't attend court today,” Besigye shared on Twitter.
However, his lawyer Ernest Kalibala was seen in the registrar’s office but did not share with the media what had transpired.
Attempts to talk to Ms Khainza also bore no fruits as she was reportedly rushing out of office to attend a requiem mass of a colleague.
This comes at a time when Opposition MPs are soliciting 143 signatures from fellow lawmakers in a bid to recall Parliament from recess to discuss Dr Besigye’s continued house arrest and harassment by the police.
This was agreed upon after a group of lawyers led by Ladislaus Rwakafuuzi and Opposition MPs, including Mukono Municipality MP Betty Nambooze, Gilbert Olanya (Kilak) and Roland Mugume (Rukungiri Municipality) visited Dr Besigye at his home in Kasangati last Saturday.
Ms Nambooze, the lead petitioner, told journalists last Saturday that they decided that the continued detention of the four-time presidential candidate, coupled with heavy police deployment at his home is illegal and that they should recall Parliament to address the same.
“After observing the conditions under which Dr Besigye lives, we decided as MPs, after consultation with other colleagues who are up country right now, that Parliament should be recalled,’’ Ms Nambooze said.
A few minutes later, Besigye shared yet again that he had been denied right to attend the “funeral service of our friend Mrs Enid Turitwenka at All Saints Church, I can’t even get someone to deliver my wreath!”
Ms Turitwenka succumbed to cancer on Sunday.
