Ruling on Mumbere’s application to relax bail terms deferred

The Kololo-based International Crimes Division has adjourned the ruling in which the Rwenzururu king Charles Wesley Mumbere is seeking orders to relax his bail terms.

The presiding judge Margaret Oumo Oguli notified the lawyers that ruling was not ready thus adjourning it to October 24.

King Mumbere was arrested from his royal palace in Kasese in November 2016 and charged with several offence before Jinja magistrate court. However, on January 13, 2017 he was released on bail by Justice Eva Luswata who restricted his movements to Kampala Wakiso and Jinja. He was also blocked from travelling to Kabarole , Kasese and Bundibugyo districts hence the application.

Through his lawyers Mr Samuel Muyizzi, King Mumbere alleges that since his release, the state turned it into house arrest, adding that efforts to seek medical attention have to be cleared through security agencies.

The King states that he has been denied direct access to any person apart from his immediate family, the queen and his children.
However, prosecution led by the Senior State Attorney Ms Marion BenBella stated that the Kingdom palace in Muyenga cell, Nyakabugo II ward, Central Division in Kasese Municipality is still a protected crime scene where the applicant (King Mumbere) is not allowed and it is partly the reason why his deceased mother could not be buried there.

Ms Marion presented the affidavit of the detective superintendent of police attached to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Johnson Monday opposing the King’s application.

Mr Monday stated that inquiries in the cases the King is facing were completed and was committed to the International Crimes Division of the High Court on the 22nd June 2017 and the respondent (state) is ready and awaits the court registry to fix a hearing date.
“The applicant is the King of the Rwenzururu Kingdom which is located in the prohibited districts. He still wields considerable influence over his subjects most of whom are witnesses and once his bail condition is reviewed before trial, there are high chances of him interfering with prosecution witnesses,” Mr Monday stated.

Adding..”I got intelligence information which I verily believe that some of the applicant’s subjects who had fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have returned re-organised, trained and are ready to attack and defend their king.”
Charges
King Mumbere and his co-accused are facing charges of treason, terrorism, murder, aggravated robbery and being in possession of illegal firearms.
He was arrested on November 26, 2016, during an army raid on his Buhikira palace in Kasese Town and was first held at police’s high security Nalufenya detention centre in Jinja District in eastern Uganda before he was remanded to Luzira Prison in December 2016.
The raid on the palace left more than 100 people, including his royal guards and police officers killed.
The king was arrested with close to 200 other loyalists during the raid and in the aftermath.