Jailed opposition leader Dr. Kizza Besigye has formally protested to the High Court, telling presiding Judge Emmanuel Baguma that deported Kenyan lawyer Martha Karua SC and imprisoned lawyer Erias Lukwago remain his primary attorneys. In a letter dated 1st July 2026 from Luzira Government Prison, Besigye warned that forcing him to appoint replacement counsel while his chosen advocates are barred or detained would make a fair trial impossible.
The four-page letter, received and stamped by the Uganda Law Society, the Principal Judge’s Chambers and Luzira Prison on 2nd July, was written jointly with co-applicant Hajj Obeid Lutale. It responds to court directions that set a three-day timeline for Besigye’s bail application, MA No 213/2025, and push ahead with a human rights enforcement case, MA No 227/2026, despite what he describes as a deliberate dismantling of his defense team.
Besigye told the judge that Karua, whom he appointed to lead his legal team, was detained at Entebbe International Airport and sent back to Kenya on the day Lukwago was due in court. She was later declared persona non grata, a move Besigye says was intended to stop her from appearing for him. Lukwago, the former Lord Mayor of Kampala and a pillar of the defense, was abducted from his home by the army after the court issued service directions in the human rights case. He was held incommunicado, charged with misprision of treason, and remains on remand in poor health.
With Karua barred from the country and Lukwago in jail, Besigye accused the State of trying to force him to accept a State-appointed lawyer. He rejected that outright. The right to choose one’s advocate, he wrote, is inherent and not granted by the State. In his view, proceeding with replacement counsel while his chosen lawyers are either deported or detained would reduce constitutional guarantees of legal representation and adequate time to prepare into empty phrases.
The protest also challenges the court’s urgency. Besigye noted that earlier bail applications were left to linger for months until he cited the 2022 Bail Guidelines requiring disposal within 30 days. Now, with no lawyers available to him, the court has compressed the process into three days, raising what he called questions about the motive behind the sudden speed.
Facing a possible death sentence in Criminal Session Case No 335/2025, Besigye asked Judge Baguma to reconsider and allow at least three weeks for preparation. He argued that if the matter had been fixed promptly when filed, his team would still have been fully constituted. Until Karua and Lukwago can represent him, he insisted, the defense team he chose remains unchanged.
