Official says Ugandan opposition figure will be tried in civilian court instead of military one

KAMPALA, Uganda — A prominent opposition figure facing military trial in Uganda will be charged before a civilian court instead, an official said Monday, as authorities faced mounting pressure to free him.

Kizza Besigye, a four-time presidential candidate in the East African country, went missing in November in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, and appeared days later in a cage before a military tribunal in Uganda's capital, Kampala.

Besigye’s close associates have said his trial on charges including treachery, which carries the death penalty, is politically motivated.

Uganda’s Supreme Court ruled last month that civilians can’t be court-martialed, questioning the competence of untrained military officers to dispense justice.

It was not clear what charges Besigye might face under Uganda’s penal code. Although the offense comparable to treachery is treason, justice officials are studying the evidence and “will decide on which course of action to take,” said judiciary spokesman James Ereemye Mawanda.

Besigye has been on hunger strike for days, according to his family. He looked weak when he appeared in a courtroom last week. On Sunday he was taken in an ambulance for treatment at a clinic outside the maximum-security prison where he is held.

The Supreme Court's decision was criticized by President Yoweri Museveni and his son Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Uganda's top military commander.

Besigye, 68, has faced arrest many times in his political career but has never been convicted of a crime.

He is a physician who retired from Uganda’s military at the rank of colonel and is a former president of the Forum for Democratic Change party, for many years Uganda’s most prominent opposition group. He served as Museveni's personal doctor before they fell out in the 1990s over what Besigye said was Museveni’s slide into authoritarianism.

Amnesty International has called for Besigye’s release, saying his “abduction clearly violated international human rights law and the process of extradition with its requisite fair trial protections.”

Besigye’s case is being watched closely by Ugandans anxious over political maneuvers ahead of presidential elections next year.

Although Museveni is expected to seek re-election, some observers believe he may step aside. He has no obvious successor within the ranks of the ruling National Resistance Movement party. Kainerugaba frequently expresses his wish to succeed his father.