Dr Kizza Besigye’s wife, Eng Winnie Byanyima has vowed to hold government responsible for any harm she said could be occasioned to her husband at Luzira Prison, Chimp Corps report.
The FDC strongman is in jail on charges related to attempting to forcefully remove President Museveni from power.
Besigye maintains he won the election much as the Electoral Commission and Supreme Court qualified Museveni as the validly elected head of state in the February elections.
Prosecution alleges the former presidential candidate “unlawfully declared himself winner of the presidential elections 2016” and “incited the public to defy lawful authority and mobilised the masses to attend his swearing-in as president of Uganda.”
Byanyima, who visited Dr Kizza Besigye this week, said she was equally worried of her husband’s safety.
“We know that the regime has acquired many other weapons including toxic agents. Kizza Besigye’s life is in the hands of the NRM government. We will hold the government accountable for his safety,” said Byanyima.
“The prison authorities allowed me to speak to Kizza Besigye on phone but all our conversations are monitored. Three officers were sitting less than one meter away from us as we talked. There is no privacy,” she added.
“I am concerned that the lawless and violent police and its illegal militias have in the past had access to Kizza Besigye while he was in prison. I warn them not to go to Luzira to harm him.”
Luzira officials have been quoted in the media as saying Besigye remains secure.
During the hearing of his case at Nakawa Court, Besigye said his life was in danger and that some strange people had appeared around his cells at night.
Besigye was first detained at Moroto Prisons before being sent to Luzira under heavy security and from there to Nakawa Magistrates Court where he was charged with treason.
The politician is further accused of “unlawfully taking presidential oath and undertaking to execute the functions and duties of the president of Uganda.”
The prosecutor told court investigations were still ongoing, asking court to send the accused back to prison.
Byanyima said the presidential election was rigged and the “people’s victory was stolen. Our last recourse is the Constitution and it says that all power belongs to the people and the people shall be governed by leaders chosen through regular, free and fair elections.”
She added: “What happened last February was a farce followed by subversion of the will of the people. Guilt and fear have now driven the regime to persecute Kizza Besigye but it cannot succeed in breaking his will or that of the people of Uganda.
“The actions taken against Kizza Besigye as an individual are also symptomatic of the breakdown of institutions in this country. We are witnessing creeping state failure induced by an illegal regime. The judiciary is complicit in the abuse of state processes to persecute Kizza Besigye.”
Government maintains Besigye’s defiance activities have cultivated ground for political violence.