In brief
Erias Lukwago, a former Ugandan mayor and lawyer for opposition leader Kizza Besigye, was arrested and charged with a treason‑related offence in late May. The arrest followed a boast from Army Chief Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba on social media, sparking protests from opposition figures including Bobi Wine. Lukwago denied the charges and was remanded in custody until a court hearing next week. The incident highlights mounting pressure on political dissenters in Uganda’s climate of increasing authoritarianism.
Erias Lukwago, a former mayor of the Ugandan town of Anyange and the attorney for opposition stalwart Kizza Besigye, was detained early this week and charged with a treason‑related offence.
The lawyer appeared at a magistrate’s court in Kampala weak and cough‑ridden, days after police took him from his home. He denied the allegations of failing to report treason and was remanded until a hearing scheduled for next week.
His arrest followed a brag on X by Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Uganda’s army chief and son of President Yoweri Museveni, who claimed that he had ordered the detention and reported mistreatment of Lukwago.
Bobi Wine, a prominent opposition politician who fled the country after the January presidential election, alleged that the arrest was orchestrated by Kainerugaba as Lukwago was preparing to serve a court summons on the military chief.
“I call upon all of us to reject and resist this brazen impunity,” Wine posted on X, calling for a legal challenge to the authorities’ actions.
Lukwago’s family filed a petition demanding that security officers disclose his whereabouts and release him “whether dead or alive,” citing Kainerugaba’s claims of responsibility for the seizure.
Besigye, who has faced multiple detentions since 2020, remains in custody on treason charges after being abducted in Kenya and returned to Uganda in late 2024. He once served as Museveni’s personal doctor before splintering from the regime in 1999.
The incident underscores the growing crack‑down on opposition figures in Uganda, where the government and its security apparatus have increasingly used treason charges as a tool to silence dissent.
