By Douglas Mubiru
Incarcerated National Unity Platform (NUP) party president Robert Kyagulanyi’s bodyguard has pleaded to the General Court Martial (GCM) to be released on bail, saying his wife is expecting.
Anthony Agaba, alias Bobi Young, is battling charges of spreading harmful propaganda against the defence forces and the Government.
On remand at Luzira Prison pending trial, Bobi Young is battling the charges together with two Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) soldiers, who admitted to the charge and were respectively convicted pending sentence.
The soldiers are L/CPL Apollo Bigirwa, 41, attached to the 2nd Division Infantry Guard Battalion in the Mbarara district, and Private Stuart Nuwahereza, 33, attached to the 3rd Division Battalion in Karamoja.
However, as convicts Bigirwa and Nuwahereza mitigated their case for a lenient sentence (on Tuesday, February 21), Bobi Young, who denied the charges, invited GCM, chaired by Brig. Gen Freeman Mugabe, to release him on bail.
“I have school-going children, and my wife is eight months pregnant. They all need my care, and the two days they told me I would spend in custody upon arrest have exceeded that. I, therefore, seek my immediate release because I’m free of any wrongdoing,” Bobi Young told the court.
Responding to his claims, Mugabe advised Bobi Young to lodge a formal bail application through his lawyers, saying ‘courts don’t operate on hearsay’.
“You have a constitutional right to apply for bail. So, rehearse with your lawyers and formally put in a bail application,” Mugabe told Bobi Young whose lawyers were not in court.
The case was adjourned to March 7, 2023, for the court to sentence the two UPDF soldiers whereas Bobi Young will reappear on March 14, for his bail application.
The charges
The prosecution, led by Lt Gift Mubehamwe, Privates Anthony Phillip Olupot, and Regina Nanzala told the court that on or about January 2023 in various areas of Kazo, Mbarara, and Kampala districts, Bigirwa, Nuwahereza, and Bobi Young made and spread ill and false statements against the defence forces and the Government.
The law
Under the law, the charge contravenes Sections 137 (1) of the UPDF Act, 2005, and attracts a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, upon conviction.
