The National Unity Platform-NUP strongman Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu aka Bobi Wine and his wify Barbie remain under house arrest at his residence in Magere since January 14th, 2021.
Efforts to access them by party members, foreign missions, and his lawyers remain futile to date as they have all been denied access to meeting him by military and police camped inside and outside his premises.
This has prompted a cluster of lawyers to join hands and petition the high court on the unconstitutional arrest of Bobi wine at his home which is not a gazetted area for arrests.
The lawyers are from 5 firms led by Wameli and Company Advocates, Pace and company Advocates, Muwada and Company Advocates, Kiwanuka, Kanyango and Company Advocates, and Fred Kalule and Company Advocates.
They have filed their application against the Attorney General, the Chief of Defense Forces, and the Inspector General of Police to release the couple.
One of the lawyers we interacted with identified as George Musisi says they want a declaration from the court that Bobi’s home is not a prison, and if there are any charges against him, he should be detained in a lawful place with access to lawyers and food.
“The private property of the honorable Kyagulanyi is not a lawful gazetted place for custody, we have heard the police spokesperson say that Hon Kyagulanyi is being detained because of preventing other crimes which we think is unlawful under our constitution, a person is not supposed to be jailed in a place which is not a gazetted facility and even those in gazetted facilities, they are allowed access to food, relatives and legal counsel, so we want a declaration from the court that the private property to Kyagulanyi is not a prison OR gazetted detention place, and if there are any charges against him, he should be detained in a lawful place .”Musisi explained
The case has been allocated to the head of the Civil Division Justice Michael Elubu for a hearing on January 21, 2021.
Security and Police maintain that their presence at Kyagulanyi’s home to is to prevent riots after credible intelligence information shows that Bobi is working with other forces to incite Ugandan youths to riot against the results of the presidential election.
Kyagulanyi dismissed as false election results that saw him come second in the recent presidential elections with 3,475,298 votes representing 34.83 percent of the total votes cast.
NRM’s Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa won the race with 5,851,037 votes representing 58.64 percent.
