Uganda President Yvery Museveni signs a new law allowing military trials for civilians

Uganda President Yvery Museven has signed a law of amendment, which will again allow civilians to be tried in a military court in certain circumstances.

A previous law, resolving such court processes, was set up unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in January.

Previously a decision, Civilians can be taken to a military tribunal if they have been found with military equipment such as weapons or army uniforms. Activists complained that the law was used to pursue government critics.

Parliamentarians adopted the amendment last month amid a heavy police presence and a boycott from the opposition MPs, who claim that this has violated the decision from the highest court in the country.

In January, the judges said the military courts were neither impartial nor competent to exercise judicial functions, the International Human Rights Company reported.

The change seems to be trying to deal with some of the problems.

It states that the chairmen of the tribunals must have appropriate legal qualification and training. He also says that while performing their legal functions, they must be independent and impartial.

But civilians can still be transferred if they are found with military hardware.

“The law will handle armed criminals decisively, will discourage the formation of militant political groups that seek to undermine democratic processes, and ensure that national security is tied to a solid basic base. If it does not break, do not repair it!” Army spokesman Kohl Chris Magezi wrote on X after the account was accepted by MPsS

But opposition leader Bobby Wine said the law would be used against him and others.

“All of us in the opposition are directed by the act,” he told the AFP News Agency.

Law Society in UgandaA professional body representing the lawyers of the country said it would “challenge the constitutionality” of the amendment.

For years, activists have claimed that military courts are being used by the government to jam the dissidents, with people claiming that evidence has been planted.

“If you are a political opponent, then they will find a way to bring you under the military court and then you know that your fate is sealed … After there, justice will never visit your door,” the human rights lawyer Gavea Tegul told the BBC focus on Africa in February.

He added that people can spend years in detention, as the courts expect decisions from senior military figures that can never come, and those who are judged and found guilty are confronted with more punishments than in the civil courts.

A recent high -profile case was followed by the arrest of the November long -standing opposition figure Kizza Besigye. He was taken to a neighboring Kenya, taken across the border and then charged with a military court in possession of pistols and attempting to buy a weapon abroad, which he refused.

These charges were dropped and replaced by others when his case was transferred to a civil court after the Supreme Court ruling.

Museumni, who has been in power since 1986, described the sentence as a “wrong decision”Adding that “the country is not governed by the judges. It is governed by people.”

He had previously defended the use of military courts Saying that they are dealing with “growing activities of criminals and terrorists who use weapons to kill people indiscriminately.”

He said the civil courts were too busy to “deal with these weapons criminals quickly.”