By KGR Reporter,
The Supreme Court has put to rest the debate on whether civilians can be tried in military courts.
In an almost unanimous decision, the seven judges of the Supreme Court with a little variance ruled that military courts are not vested with the competency to try civilians.
Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo held that Court Martial judges do not have any requirement of having legal training and equated it to sending a person to the theatre to operate a patient when that person doesn’t have the requisite qualifications to do an operation.
Owiny-Dollo held that even though court martial judges don’t have any legal qualifications, they try everything and anything including treason yet their decisions can’t be appealed.
The Chief Justice also held that in the court martial even junior officers and bodyguards can also sit on the panel to try persons accused of all manner of offences such as treason. Today’s judgment is going to come as a relief to Dr Kizza Besigye, Obeid Lutale and other National Unity Platform supporters who are being tried in the military courts. END.