Hassan Male Mabirizi, an imprisoned city attorney, has asked Masaka High Court to halt the criminal trial of Muhammad Ssegirinya, a member of parliament for Kawempe North, and Allan Ssewanyana, a member of Makindye West until the Constitutional Court rules on his petition disputing the legality of new charges brought against them.
Together with Wilson Ssenyonga, the two lawmakers are accused of conspiring to commit terrorism, as well as murder and attempted murder.
Mabiriz requests that the court adjourn the scheduled hearing of the accused’s third bail application in his petition, which was received by the Registrar of the Masaka High Court on Friday.
The legislators’ bail applications will be heard and decided by Masaka High Court Resident Judge Lawrence Tweyanze between February 13 and 15, 2023, prior to their prosecution.
Mabirizi contends in his appeal that he sued the Attorney General and Director of Public Prosecution-DPP for adding new charges against the lawmakers in September 2021, just hours after they had been released on bail for murder.
The DPP filed further charges of murder and terrorism against the MPs when the police re-arrested them in September 2021, claiming that detectives had discovered evidence linking them to the death of Joseph Bwanika on August 02, 2021.
Mabirizi claims in his petition to the Constitutional Court that the extra charges filed on a distinct criminal file amount to political persecution, which is illegitimate in a free and democratic society and according to the court’s interpretation.
Additionally, he claims that the MPs were cheated out of the Shillings 20 million each they had paid as bail due to the additional charges, saying that this shouldn’t have happened if the state had just submitted an updated charge sheet instead of re-arresting the MPs.
Mabirizi requests that the trial against the lawmakers be suspended until the outcome of his constitutional court case.
Since the matter is now scheduled for a hearing between February 13 and 15, 2023, there is a risk that the proceedings will begin before the petition’s outcome.
If the application is denied, both the petitioner and the two MPs will sustain permanent harm, he claims.
Mabirizi claims that despite being scheduled for a hearing twice, his constitutional court appeal was unable to proceed because three of the panel’s justices had disqualified themselves.
Nevertheless, the court vowed to remedy the issue as quickly as feasible. In order to avoid delays, he prefers that the hearing date for his case be set before February 13th, 2023.
He continues in the application, “Since I represent myself, I also request for a production warrant directed to the In-charge of Luzira Upper Prison to enable me to argue the application.” Julius Borore, the registrar of the Masaka High Court, has not yet made a decision about Mabarizi’s application.
Notably, Masaka Principal State Attorney Richard Birivumbuka stated in his arguments when he appeared before Masaka High Court on Tuesday of last week that they are prepared to move through with the accused people’s trials. However, he requested that the prosecution present its case in the terrorism case in Kampala’s High Court’s International Crimes Division before the suspects are tried in Masaka.