The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has appealed against the acquittal of former Makerere University Researcher Dr Stella Nyanzi on charges of Offensive Communication and Cyber harassment.
The notice of appeal filed before the Court of Appeal in Kampala, the Office of the DPP says that is not satisfied with the decision made by Justice Adonyo in acquitting Nyanzi.
The DPP has also written to the High Court to provide them with the record of the proceedings to be able to formulate their grounds of appeal in the Court of Appeal.
This follows her glorious acquittal Last month after Justice Henry Peter Adonyo argued that Nyanzi was illegally convicted by Buganda Road Magistrates Court and not given a right to a fair hearing or not given time to prepare her Defense hence violating her constitutional right.
Adonyo faulted the lower court saying it had no jurisdiction to try the case, and did not give Nyanzi enough time to prepare her defense.
Her acquittal came after Nyanzi appealed through her lawyers Isaac Ssemakadde who argued that the Buganda Road Court trial Magistrate had violated her constitutional rights while handing her the sentence.
Nyanzi had been sentenced to 18 months in jail, finding her guilty of cyber-harassment. In September 2018, the 45-year-old university lecturer had refereed to the private parts of president Yoweri Museveni’s deceased mother.
Gladys Kamasanyu, the magistrate who convicted her said the ‘obscene and indecent’ verse Nyanzi posted should never have been shared in the public domain and included suggestions which ‘could only be made by an immoral person.’
