According to the ruling of the International Crimes Division of the High Court in Kampala, Kawempe North Member of Parliament Muhammad Ssegirinya and his Makindye West counterpart Allan Ssewanyana will not be part of the application seeking to protect prosecution witnesses.
The MPs are jointly charged with five others for murder, attempted murder, aiding, and abetting terrorism arising from their alleged involvement in the greater Masaka district machete killings which occurred between March and June 2021 and claimed more than 20 people and left very many others injured.
However, a few weeks ago, the prosecutors led by Joseph Kyomuhendo and Richard Birivumbuka filed an exparte application for non-disclosure of the identities of 17 witnesses they intend to rely on to prosecute the accused persons of the crimes against them.
Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Thomas Jatiko also swore an affidavit supporting the application, saying that some of the witnesses have expressed fear because they have allegedly been threatened and intimidated due to their perceived association with the investigation and prosecution of this case, hence their lives are in danger. He noted that disclosing their identities at this stage is most likely to compromise their safety and their well-being as well as that of their close associates because some of the accomplices in the case are still on run.
Jatiko indicated that some of the accused persons are very influential members of the society with the capacity to interfere with the witness and that the state doesn't have sufficient resources to employ witness protective measures for a longer time if the identities are revealed at this stage of the Pre-trial hearing.
The suspects’ lawyer Medard Lubega Sseggona made submissions to the court requesting to be part of the application saying the ex parte application violates their rights to a fair hearing. He asked Court to direct the prosecutors to avail them with a copy of the witness protection application adding that as defense lawyers, they are also officers of the court and equal parties together with the prosecution and are willing to abide by any conditions that the Court will impose.
The prosecutors, however insisted that according to the High Court Rules, an application aiming at protecting the witnesses must be ex parte. On Monday, International Crimes Judge Alice Komuhangi Khauka agreed with the prosecution that allowing the accused persons to access the witness protection application will be in violation of the rules and principles of the High Court and International Crime Division.
"It would therefore mean that the Court has miserably failed in its duty to ensure that the safety and wellbeing of the witnesses are not compromised. The application before me is to determine whether the prosecution should disclose at this stage of the Pretrial and how the disclosure should be effected and cannot, therefore, be inter parties", said Komuhangi.
