The journalism fraternity on Monday afternoon filled Buganda Road Court where eight Red Pepper editors and directors accused of a publication prejudicial to national security were arraigned after finishing a week at the infamous torture chamber of Nalufenya.
The evidently beaten men were consequently denied bail and remanded to Luzira until next week, purportedly to allow government undertake thorough investigations on the matter.
Those charged are Arinaitwe Rugyendo, Patrick Mugumya, Johnson Musinguzi, Richard Tusiime, James Mujuni, Ben Byarabaha, Richard Kintu and Tumusiime Francis.
Trouble for the Bishops as commonly referred to by their employees begun on November 20th, when they published a story purporting that President Yoweri Museveni was harboring plans to oust his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame. The story was immediately dismissed by the internal affairs ministry.
The news story is allegedly prejudicial to national security and defamed President Museveni, his brother Gen Salim Saleh and Security Minister Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde.
They were also charged with the use of the electronic system to publish information that portrayed Museveni, Salim Saleh and Tumukunde as if they are planning to overthrow President of Rwanda Paul Kagame. Prosecutors argue that the report subjected the trio to ridicule, contempt and hatred.
They all denied the charged.
The eight were arrested on Tuesday after a siege at the Red Pepper offices in Nalufenya, Jinja. On Monday, they appeared before the court and applied for bail through their lawyer Maxim Mutabingwa. He told court that the charges read against his clients are bailable by the court and that since the investigations are not complete, the trial may not kick off soon.
He also told the court that all the accused are directors or editors who stay in Kampala and are law-abiding citizens. Each of the accused presented two sureties.
However, their application for bail was thwarted by state Prosecutor Abdu Salaam Waiswa who asked for more time to scrutinize the documents presented by their sureties. He asked the court to remand them as investigations continue.
Buganda Court Grade 1 Magistrate James Ereemye adjourned the matter to December 5, to allow the prosecution to respond to the bail application presented to the court by the lawyers of the accused.
