Gen Sejusa petitions High Court to halt his trial
KAMPALA. Gen David Sejusa has petitioned the High Court to block his trial in the General Court Martial.
Through his lawyers, Gen Sejusa also wants to be released from Luzira prison, where he is being held on remand, until the final disposal of his petition in the High Court where he filed a suit seeking to be declared as retired from the army.
According to his lead counsel David Mushabe, the General Court Martial Chairman, Maj Gen Levi Karuhanga, had already received a copy of Gen Sejusa’s petition and signed on it.
In the petition in the High Court, Gen Sejusa says the action of denying him a salary and other benefits, withdrawal of his army uniforms, guns, refusal to deploy him, failure to provide him any means of transport, meals and housing amounts to constructive dismissal from the Uganda People’s Defence Forces.
Gen Sejusa was arrested on Sunday and subsequently taken to the General Court Martial on Tuesday and charged with insubordination, indiscipline and being absent from duty without permission.
He was remanded to Luzira prison until February 9 for the hearing of his bail application.
He also said the charges against him in the military court this week were premature since his status in the UPDF has to first be determined by the High Court.
When Gen Sejusa appeared in the military court, he declined to plead to the charges arguing that they constitute part of his pending petition before the High Court.
However, the military court overruled him and directed him to file a formal application to object to the charges before he was further remanded.
Gen Sejusa, aged 61, presented advanced age as part of the grounds to support his bail application in the military court.
He also said he sustained injuries in battle during the bush war time, which need specialised care that he cannot access while in jail. He also said he is the sole bread winner of his family and he cannot abscond from attending court because he has a permanent place of residence in Naguru.
Background
Gen Sejusa’s run-ins with the army date as far back as 1996 when he sought a High Court declaration for the same, which he was granted, prompting an appeal by the Attorney General that he won at the court of appeal, only to lose to the State at the Supreme Court.