Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye appeared to collapse in court on Wednesday while facing treason charges. Besigye, 69, who has been detained without bail for several months, shouted "stop" repeatedly before falling backward in the dock.
Court proceedings were postponed as prison guards attended to the defendant. Besigye, a four-time presidential candidate, has been denied bail. His main attorney, Erias Lukwago, has also been arrested and charged with alleged failure to report acts of treason.
Prosecutors have recently moved to present evidence they claim will prove Besigye and others plotted to overthrow the government of President Yoweri Museveni. Besigye's wife, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima, and others have expressed concern over his failing health and are seeking to draw international attention to the case. They assert that Besigye requires consultation with a doctor of his choice rather than the government-appointed medics at the maximum-security facility where he is held.
Besigye, once Uganda’s most prominent opposition figure, last contested the presidency in 2016. He later stated that elections were futile in a country led by an authoritarian leader reliant on the armed forces. In November 2024, Besigye went missing in Nairobi, Kenya, but was later presented before a military tribunal in Kampala to face charges related to threatening national security. The case was subsequently transferred to civilian court and amended to treason, a charge punishable by death.
President Museveni has stated that Besigye must answer for "the very serious offenses he is alleged to have been planning" and has called for a swift trial to reveal the facts. Museveni's son, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Uganda's top military commander, has accused Besigye of plotting to kill his father and has previously described Besigye as "a dead man walking."
Besigye was formerly a close ally of Museveni during the guerrilla war that brought Museveni to power in 1986, even serving as Museveni’s personal doctor and military assistant. He later became a vocal critic of the president, denouncing what he viewed as a descent into authoritarianism that undermined the democratic ideals of Museveni's early tenure. Term and age limits for the presidency have since been removed.
Museveni, who won reelection in January polls that faced controversy, is currently serving his seventh consecutive term. Bobi Wine, Museveni's main opponent in the recent election, has since gone into exile, citing safety concerns.