The move expands the case against Kizza Besigye, as he could face the death penalty if found guilty of treason.
Uganda’s military court has ruled that prominent opposition figure Kizza Besigye can be tried for betrayal and faces the death penalty if found guilty.
The ruling deepens the legal problems Besigye faces ahead of the 2026 presidential election.
Besigye, who ran for president four times, disappeared from Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, on November 16.
Days later, he and his co-defendant, an assistant named Obeid Lutale, appeared in a military court in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
Besigye was charged with illegal possession of firearms and soliciting military assistance from abroad to destabilize national security.
The opposition leader, who denied the charges, was later detained.
Military prosecutors amended the indictment to include treason charges and introduced a third suspect, an active-duty officer.
Besigye, 68, has been arrested and assaulted several times during his political career. However, he has never been convicted of a crime.
Britain-based Amnesty International called for Besigye’s release, saying “his kidnapping was a clear violation of international human rights law and extradition procedures essential to protect fair trials.”
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said Besigye’s trial was “the latest example of Ugandan authorities’ misuse of military courts and military-related charges to repress the opposition.”
President Yoweri Museveni has long been criticized by human rights groups for alleged human rights abuses against opposition figures.
Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, is expected to run for re-election but has not yet confirmed this.
Museveni has no clear successor within the ruling National Resistance Movement, raising widespread concerns about an unpredictable political transition.
Besigye, a qualified medical doctor and retired colonel from the Ugandan army, is a former chairman of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).
The FDC, with Besigye at the helm, has been Uganda’s most prominent opposition group for many years.
