KAMPALA, UGANDA: City Lawyer Hassan Male Mabirizi has appealed to the Constitutional Court of Uganda seeking to challenge the process of charging MPs Allan Ssewanyana and Muhammad Ssegirinya with new offences on two different charge sheets.
The two opposition MPs who subscribe to the National Unity Platform NUP party were first charged by Masaka Court with cases of Murder, Terrorism and Attempted Murder in the Machete killings that marred the greater subregion in the months of July and August.
However, after their release from jail, the two MPs were again slapped with new murder cases in a separate charge sheet by the State and remanded back to Kigo prison on Wednesday, September 29, 2021.
Now Lawyer Mabirizi in his petition contends that it was illegal to charge the MPs with a fresh criminal case on the file of the infamous ‘Bijjambiya’ case, yet High Court had already granted them Bail at a costly term of 20 million shillings.
“If you have charges against somebody; you have to bring them out at once, or you must amend the petition at any stage,” Mabirizi said. The lawyer further accused the judiciary of failing in its mandate to protect the MPs from the excesses of the executive arm.
Citing Article 28(9) of the Constitution which provides that; Mabirizi said a person who shows that he or she has been tried by a competent court for a criminal offence and convicted or acquitted of that offence shall not again be tried for the offence or for any other criminal offence of which he or she could have been convicted at the trial for that offence.
Mabirizi, therefore, asked court to issue a permanent injunction restraining the DPP from any further sanctioning, presentation to Court and/or prosecution of the MPs in relation to new charges contained in a different Criminal Case file of Murder of JOSEPH BWANIKA on August 2, 2021
Additionally, the lawyer wants court to order for immediate and unconditional release of the two Members of Parliament from Uganda Prisons or any other custody where they may be held in relation to the new charges.
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