Archive May 20, 2025

The country’s top court rejected the practice in January, but it has since been practiced there for a while. The Supreme Court had determined that military tribunals lacked the legal authority to judec civilians and lacked fair trial standards.

The legislation, which allows civilians to be tried in military courts, was passed on Tuesday by lawmakers in spite of that ruling.

You showed today that you are fearless Americans! In a post on X, President Yoweri Museveni, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the head of the military and his son, said, “Uganda will remember your courage and commitment.”

After the party claimed the opposition activist had been abducted, Kainerugaba earlier this month claimed to be holding a missing opposition activist in his basement and threatened to use violence against him.

In response to concerns about alleged threats to state stability and armed opposition, Museveni’s government has frequently defended military trials as necessary for national security.

According to a spokesman for the military, the legislation will “defend decisively against armed violent criminals, deter the formation of militant political groups that seek to subvert democratic processes, and ensure national security is firmly founded,” according to Chris Magezi, a spokesman for the military.

However, critics claim that this action is a result of broader repression. During the debate on the bill, opposition MP Jonathan Odur told parliament, “There is no legal basis for the trial of civilians in the military court.” He called the legislation “shallow, unreasonable, and unconstitutional.”

Uganda has used military courts for years to prosecute opposition figures and critics of the government.

Bobi Wine, a popular politician who now leads the opposition, was accused of illegally possessing firearms in a military court in 2018. Later, the charges were dropped.

Former opposition figure Kizza Besigye, who has contested Museveni in numerous elections, was detained in Kenya last year and later returned to Uganda to face a military tribunal.

His trial was moved to a civilian court after the Supreme Court’s ruling in January. The People’s Front for Freedom (PFF), his party, has refuted the accusations as politically motivated.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has previously criticized Uganda’s military courts for breaking international standards for judicial independence and fairness.

The Ugandan government has repeatedly used military courts to punish opponents and critics, according to Oryem Nyeko, senior Africa researcher at HRW, earlier this year.

After abruptly halting funding of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), the US government’s leadership plans to intervene.

After a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Tuesday, Kaja Kallas, the bloc’s foreign policy head, announced to the media that $5. 5 million ($6.2 million) will be provided to “support the vital work of Radio Free Europe.”

She continued, “It’s short-term emergency funding that’s intended to provide a safety net for independent journalism.”

In order to reduce government spending, Trump suspended funding for RFE/RL in March along with other US broadcasters, including Voice of America.

The administration’s criticisms included claims that the cuts are politically motivated and were a result of a desire to control and restrict the news media’s biases.

Trump accused two US public broadcasters, PBS and NPR of biased reporting and spreading “left-wing” propaganda by signing an executive order earlier this month.

A US federal judge granted a request to the Trump administration last month to restore $ 12 million that was authorized by Congress, according to lawyers for RFE/RL, which has been in operation for 75 years.

Due to lawyers’ claims that the service will shut down in June without the funding, the money has not been sent so far.

Kallas stated on Tuesday that the EU’s funding would not support the outlet’s global activities, but instead would concentrate on issues that are more in line with the bloc’s interests.

“So our focus should be really on assisting Radio Free Europe to operate and operate in those nations that are close by and heavily reliant on news from outside,” she said.

The EU’s top diplomat expressed hope that Radio Free Europe would receive more funding in the form of longer-term aid from the 27 member states. Kallas stated that the bloc has been looking for “strategic areas” where it can assist in light of Washington’s cut-off of life-saving foreign aid.

Both the outlet’s corporate and journalistic sediul are in the Czech Republic and Washington, DC. With more than 1,700 employees, the service has broadcast programs in 27 different languages in 23 countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East.

Russia has harshly criticized and outlawed the outlet because of its coverage of Ukraine’s war.