Lumbuye detained in Turkey
Turkey-based Ugandan blogger and government critic Fred Kajjubi Lumbuye. PHOTO/ COURTESY/ FILE
What you need to know:
Last month, unconfirmed reports spread widely that Mr Lumbuye had been picked by unknown gunmen from his house in Istanbul, Turkey over unclear offences
National Unity Platform (NUP) party leaders have said they have finally seen the Turkish-based government critic, Mr Fred Lumbuye, after weeks of being held incommunicado.
Mr Muwada Nkunyingi, the Kyandondo East MP, yesterday confirmed to Daily Monitor in a WhatsApp audio call that he had seen Lumbuye in KOCAELI Foreigners Detention Centre in Turkey where he has been held on charges of expired visa and overstay in the country.
“We have signed a document with him and our lawyer in this country. I met him last evening and seems to be bored but in good health,” Mr Nkunyingi, who is also the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, said yesterday.
Last month, unconfirmed reports spread widely that Mr Lumbuye had been picked by unknown gunmen from his house in Istanbul, Turkey over unclear offences.
In a press conference at Uganda Media Centre days later, the State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Henry Oryem Okello, told journalists he had just heard about Mr Lumbuye’s arrest, but hadn’t confirmed it.
The NUP party hired a Turkish lawyer, Mr Mustafa Demir, to handle the controversy surrounding the deportation of Mr Lumbuye but they later withdrew the idea.
Lawyer complicates search
Upon the arrival of the NUP lawyers in Turkey last week, sources familiar with the matter intimated to this newspaper that the Turkish lawyer, who had demanded $71, 000 (about Shs250m), had started hiding away from them and only asked to meet once the money was wired to his account.
On sensing gaps in the lawyer’s commitment to helping, they resorted to using their diaspora teams in Turkey.
A fortnight ago, NUP lawyers, who had pitched camp in Turkey, gave up the search for Mr Lumbuye.
Mityana Municipality MP Francis Zaake, who had been handling the matter, on Tuesday said he had advised the team to go slow on Mr Demir since his conditions to meet their client were stringent.
Way forward
Mr Muwada said they got another lawyer, Mr Adnan Sahin, who has helped them in filing for any possible evacuation or renewal of Mr Lumbuye’s citizenship in the country and regain his freedom.
“We want to see if we can get him to renew his citizenship or get asylum in another country. We have many options now but what is important is that we have seen him.
