In a highly emotional and tense session at the Makindye Chief Magistrate’s Court, former Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago made a desperate, tearful plea for his life, asking the court to either save him from unbearable pain or let him die.
Appearing via a live video link from custody, the visibly frail opposition figure and president of the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) broke down while addressing the court about his rapidly deteriorating health. Following the session, court pushed further proceedings back as his medical bail application remains unresolved.
Lukwago, 56, was arrested on June 15, 2026, and charged before Chief Magistrate Sarah Basemera two days later with misprision of treason, a charge under Section 25 of the Penal Code Act that carries a potential life sentence.
Prosecutors allege that between 2021 and November 2024, in both Uganda and Kenya, Lukwago knew of an alleged plot involving his clients, opposition leader Dr. Kizza Besigye and Hajji Obeid Lutale Kamulegeya, to overthrow the government, and deliberately failed to report it.
As co-lead counsel for Besigye and Lutale, Lukwago has argued the charge criminalizes privileged lawyer-client communication; he denies the allegation.
In the video session, Lukwago implored the court to reconsider bail so he could seek urgent, specialized treatment abroad.
“Save me from this excruciating pain or just kill me,” he pleaded over the link, according to accounts from the courtroom.
His defense team, led by Former Busiro East MP Medard Lubega Sseggona, has detailed a range of medical concerns before the court over recent weeks like spinal complications, respiratory problems and immune risks.
Lukwago has already been denied bail once on medical grounds. On June 23, Chief Magistrate Basemera ruled that while his health issues were genuine and documented, they did not automatically entitle him to release, since the law allows prison authorities to arrange specialized medical referrals under escort.
She ordered instead that he be referred to Mulago National Referral Hospital for comprehensive assessment. He was transferred there on June 25 and has remained hospitalized on and off since, missing several subsequent court dates because doctors and prison authorities judged him too weak to travel.
Sseggona has continued to press for release, arguing that Lukwago’s condition requires MRI-guided assessment and specialized orthopedic treatment unavailable in Uganda, and that only treatment abroad potentially back in India can resolve his spinal and respiratory issues.
Speaking to reporters outside court, he has repeatedly described his client’s condition as critical, at one point saying he no longer knew whether to call him the suspect, the accused, or the patient.
With the state seeking more time and Lukwago’s health described as critical, the latest session ended in another adjournment, with the medical bail question still to be revisited.
The case has drawn condemnation from the Uganda Law Society, the East Africa Law Society, and international lawyers’ groups.
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