Court in Masaka granted a cash bail of shs 200,000 each to the 126 supporters and members of the campaign team of National Unity Platform (NUP) who were arrested in Kalangala last week.
The suspects were brought to court in two different batches and included Edward Sebuufu also known as Eddie Mutwe who is a private body guard to NUP presidential candidate Kyagulanyi.
The group was paraded in front of the Masaka Chief Magistrate Charles Yeteise who read out charges on inciting violence, obstruction of police officers on duty and engaging in acts that are likely to spread an infectious disease. The suspects pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The defence lawyers who were headed by Fred Musisi applied for cash bail, saying that the offences were bailable and also cited the need to access health care for some of the suspects who were visibly in pain, claiming that they were tortured while in detention.
The bail application was accepted by court.
However, four of the suspects, including Eddie Mutwe, Kafuko Stanley and Kampala Lookman were further remanded to Prison until January 19, 2021 after they were read an additional six charges related to alleged destruction of police property and assault of police officers, among others.
By the end of the court working hours, NUP had paid bail fees for 50 suspects and was expected to conclude the bail procedures for the rest of their team today.
