The king of the African kingdom of Rwenzururu, a subnational kingdom within Uganda, Charles Wesley Mumbere says he is being held under house arrest by the Army’s Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence, despite having been released on bail subject to stringent conditions and restrictions on where he may travel to.
The Monarch, according to report was arrested on November 26, 2016, during an army raid on his Buhikira palace in Kasese Town and was first held at police’s high security Nalufenya detention centre in Jinja before he was remanded to Luzira Prison in December 2016.
The raid on the palace reportedly left more than 100 people, including royal guards and police officers, killed.
The Omusinga (the monarch’s local name) was arrested with close to 200 other loyalists during the raid and in the aftermath.
He, and co-accused, including former Acting Prime Minister Johnson Thembo Kitsumbire, face charges of treason, terrorism, murder, aggravated robbery and being in possession of illegal firearms.
In a written statement to his lawyers on May 4, the king notes that he has not enjoyed the freedom of movement granted by the High Court in Jinja two years ago because the army has to vet the motive to get out of his residence in Muyenga, a suburb of Kampala.
In his bail conditions, the Omusinga who says he has been “traumatised” since arrest is restricted only to movements around Kampala, Wakiso and Jinja districts.
“Immediately I was released on bail by the High Court on February 6, 2017, the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI) secretly placed me under house arrest with stringent conditions.
“While the High Court had given me the freedom to move about within Kampala, Jinja and Wasiko, I am under house arrest without any freedoms deserved by a person on bail,” Mumbere wrote to his layers.
“I am not allowed to receive any visitors, not even the clergy. I am not allowed even to go to church to pray; I cannot even go to a supermarket and neither be allowed to go to the gym. The only place I can go to are hospitals and court,” he added.
