The High Court in Kampala has adjourned the treason case against Dr Kizza Besigye, his aide Hajji Obeid Lutale and UPDF Captain Denis Oola to Wednesday, September 23, 2026, when Justice Emmanuel Baguma is expected to rule on whether a prosecution report based on recorded audio is admissible as evidence.
The development came after the prosecution presented its second witness, Medadi Ssentanda Erisa, a 46-year-old lecturer from the Department of Linguistics at Makerere University, who testified about the transcription and processing of audio recordings being relied on by the State.
Ssentanda told court that he received a request from the Criminal Investigations Directorate on September 5 to assist in processing recorded voices.
According to his testimony, the recordings were supplied on a flash disk and the request was for the voices to be transcribed without making alterations.
Ssentanda told court that the agreed charge was Shs70,000 per minute of recorded voice, resulting in a total cost of Shs59,320,000.
The witness explained that his team used technology to process the recordings and produce a report from the voices, including instances where the quality of the recorded sound was poor.
The State is seeking to rely on the resulting report as part of its evidence against the accused.
However, lawyers representing Hajji Obeid Lutale challenged the report, telling court that they had not been made aware of it and questioned whether it should be admitted and relied upon as evidence.
The objection prompted Justice Baguma to adjourn the proceedings to September 23, when he is expected to give his ruling on the admissibility of the documents and report.
The evidence from Ssentanda came after British-American Andrew Wilson, alias Orlando, completed his testimony as the prosecution’s first and key witness.
Wilson concluded his evidence on Thursday after re-examination by the State, bringing several weeks of testimony and cross-examination to an end.
During his final appearance, Wilson was questioned about the recording devices used during the November 2024 Nairobi operation in which Besigye and Lutale were arrested.
He clarified how he obtained two of the recording devices. He told court that one was handed to him by an associate who had hidden it in his coat, while he found the second in a flower pot where he had placed it.
Wilson was also questioned about the original source of the recordings and confirmed that information stored on the primary source had been deleted.
When asked whether there was therefore no primary source for the information recorded, Wilson said there might be one, explaining that he had not checked the devices since Nairobi.
He also faced questions about his journey from Uganda to Kenya before the Nairobi operation.
Wilson said he did not know the person who drove him from Uganda to Kenya and described information about the journey as “classified.”
He told court that he was given a vehicle and instructed to get into it, after which he was driven to the Ugandan border. He then crossed into Kenya and proceeded to Nairobi.
Asked who instructed him to get into the vehicle, Wilson again described the information as classified, but confirmed that the person was Ugandan.
Wilson also said he did not know what happened to the driver after he reached Kenya.
The witness described the November 16, 2024 meeting at Riverside Apartments in Nairobi as a planned “sting” operation.
During earlier cross-examination, Wilson also testified about two pistols found at the Nairobi apartment, saying they appeared to have been planted by Kenyan police as part of an intelligence-led operation. He said the guns were already at the location and that he unloaded them for safety.
His evidence has also centred on covert recordings allegedly made during meetings involving the accused in Nairobi, Geneva and Athens.
The prosecution has presented the recordings and the transcripts prepared from them as part of its evidence, but the defence has challenged the admissibility and reliability of some of the material.
Besigye, Lutale and Captain Denis Oola face treason and related charges. The prosecution alleges that they participated in meetings in Uganda and abroad as part of a plan to overthrow the Government by force.
The accused have denied the charges.
Court will return on September 23 for the ruling on the admissibility of the disputed prosecution documents and report.
