Molly Katanga: Rights Watchdog To Challenge High Court Decision Refusing To Grant Her Bail! 

Legal Brains Trust, a Kampala-based democracy and human rights watchdog, has expressed outrage at the Ugandan judiciary’s repeated denial of bail to suspects in high-profile cases, including Molly Katanga, 55, who is accused of killing her husband.

The group argues that such denials violate Uganda’s Constitution and international treaty rights, including the right to liberty, presumption of innocence, and fair trial.

In a comprehensive statement published via the Twitter handle of the watchdog’s founder and executive director, Isaac Ssemakadde, the public interest lawyers’ organization has announced its intention to challenge the Katanga no-bail decision passed by high court of Uganda on Tuesday, 21 May 2024, in the East African Court of Justice on Monday, 27 May 2024, seeking a declaration that Ugandan prosecutors and judicial officers must demonstrate a “compelling reason” to deny bail, and that the availability of prison medical treatment alone is insufficient.

The Statement from Legal Brains Trust a non for profit organization.

The group sees this as a broader fight against Uganda’s “police-to-prison pipeline” and a stand for good governance and the protection of basic liberties.

“We welcome donations and support from well-wishers to MTN 0789204341 and AIRTEL 0741783181. This fight is for every law-abiding citizen and their family members and friends because we are all potential suspects and hence potential victims of this Amin-era law of jail-not-bail for all criminal suspects,” Mr Ssemakadde told our reporter.

Molly Katanga has so far made two unsuccessful attempts to bail in which she contends that she needs to attend her trial while coming from home due to her grave illnesses .

On April 9th, and May 21st, 2024, Criminal Division Judge Isaac Muwata dismissed Molly’s bail applications respectively and fixed her trial on June 2nd 2024 leaving the 55 year old widow on remand at Luzira women’s prison.

In both applications, Muwata ruled that the widow does not make out sufficient peculiar circumstances for the court to consider and grant her bail .

The Judge ruled that the issue of Molly Katanga’s sickness was already discussed and rejected in her earlier application of April 9th 2024 and now bringing it back in the second bail application without any new circumstances tantamount to court reviewing its earlier ruling .

In the second bail application , the jailed widow attached a medical report from prison where doctors examined her and concluded that she suffers from grave illness that cannot be ably handled by medical facilities in prison.

In the report dated April 15th 2024, Doctors at Luzira prison wrote that Molly Katanga suffers from nasal sinusitis, Vertigo- a sensational motion or spinning , breast masses and Hypertension.

The Doctors then concluded that Molly Katanga requires a follow -up with a specialist ENT surgeon and monitoring of her breast symptoms whose services are absent in prisons. It’s against this background that the watchdog is considering legal action.