Police have said that Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde is not a freeman and that he has been taken back to SIU custody in Kireka, after witnessing a search for any evidence against him at his residence in Kololo.
Police spokesperson Fred Enanga said that Gen. Tumukunde who faces treason charges related to soliciting support from neighboring countries to overthrow his former boss President Museveni will appear in Civil court since he retired from the military.
Earlier reports had indicated that Gen. Tumukunde who was plucked from his Kololo offices on Thursday night is under house arrest by military.
Enanga, however, dispelled the reports and said that “it is a standard procedure to carry out search in presence of suspects.”
“What we did is normal routine. Right now he has been taken back to custody as he awaits to be arraigned in Court,” Enanga said.
Mr. Enanga in an earlier statement on Friday said Gen. Tumukunde’s arrest follows his utterances in a series of radio and television interviews, which the police say “seek to foster hatred that might lead to inter-community violence, fomenting and glorifying violence in general”.
“He is therefore, being charged under Sections 23 (2) b and 23 (3) b, of the Penal code Act, which deals with instigating persons to invade the Republic of Uganda and inciting any persons to make a mutinous assembly.”
Tumukunde’s lawyers say that their client’s arrest is full of political issues since the retired Gen. announced he will run for president in 2021 last week.
The lawyer of the presidential aspirant Lt Gen Henry Tumukunde has questioned the charges that government has preferred against his client.
According to police, Gen Tumukunde faces treason charges following the utterances he made in a series of radio and television interviews where he is alleged to have called on the support of a neighbouring country to support him in removing the current leadership with or without the ballot.
His lawyer Mr Alex Luganda, however, says the utterances made by Gen Tumukunde are clear and are within the confines of the law and do not in any way tantamount to treason.
He says Gen Tumukunde has never called for war in any of the utterances he made, adding that the state has its own motive.
“It is based on his appearance on NBS TV and Top Tv on March 4th and 11th respectively, where in his interview said in his opinion that if he was Rwanda, he would support people seeking for charge in Uganda. He never at any one time called for war, but it is the police and other agencies that are creating their offence which is clear and known,” said Mr Luganda.
He said his legal team is confident that Gen Tumukunde has not committed any crime, and are now waiting for police’s next course of action.
Meanwhile, Gen. Henry Tumukunde’s son, Philips Tumukunde and 19 campaign coordinators of the former Security Minister were also being held by security forces at his offices in Kololo, msnewsug has learnt.
Among the others detained is Tororo North Member of Parliament Annette Nyaketcho, who is said to be Tumukunde’s national campaign coordinator.
This follows Gen. Tumukunde’s arrest by a joint team of police and the army led by CID Director Grace Akullo over alleged Treason on Thursday.
This website understands that after his arrest, whoever else was found at the office was ordered not to leave. These were kept on guard by the army and police.
