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Uganda: Army Court Lower Than High Court, Rules Supreme Court
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New Vision (Kampala)
17 July 2008
Posted to the web 18 July 2008
Hillary Nsambu
Kampala
The bail conditions that apply in the High Court also apply in the army's General Court Martial, the Supreme Court has ruled. The Supreme Court recently dismissed an appeal by the Attorney General seeking to overturn a Constitutional Court ruling, which declared that the General Court Martial violated the Constitution by indefinitely detaining 27 treason suspects.
The Attorney General argued that the Constitutional Court erred in declaring that the accused persons were entitled to be released on bail after spending 120 days on remand.
He added that the Constitutional Court made a mistake to declare the General Court Martial subordinate to the High Court.
According to the Attorney General, detainees before an army court were only entitled to apply for bail in accordance with the provisions of the UPDF Act.
He also reasoned that the provisions of the Constitution on bail were parallel to those of the UPDF Act, adding that persons charged under that Act were not under the Constitution.
But the Supreme Court overruled him.
"Failure to release the suspects on bail by the General Court Martial after expiry of the 120 days violated the Constitution," the highest court ruled.
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court also confirmed that the General Court Martial was subordinate to the High Court under the Constitution.
Justice Joseph Mulenga, who wrote the lead judgment, said the UPDF Act does not override the Constitution.
"It was mandatory to release the detainees on bail, irrespective of the provision of the UPDF Act concerning bail, failure of which was unconstitutional," Mulenga ruled.
The Constitutional Court ruling arose from a petition filed by a concerned citizen, Joseph Tumushabe, who challenged the indefinite detention of 27 people arrested in 2003 in the DR Congo over treason by the army court.
The detainees, who included Dr. Julius Muhumuza, were handed over to the UPDF that took them into custody and refused to release them on bail.
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The Chief Justice, Benjamin Odoki, headed the-seven-justice-panel. The other members were Justices John Wilson Tsekooko, George William Kanyeihamba, Bart Katureebe, Galdino Magellan Okello, and James Ogoola, the Principal Judge.
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