Hearing of 50 Criminal Appeals at Mbarara High Court begins
The Court of Appeal has commenced thirty days of criminal appeals session at Mbarara High Court, to hear cases of 50 appellants.
This includes 21 cases of aggravated defilement, 5 cases of Robbery, 16 murder cases, 7 cases of rape and 1 case of attempted murder, forgery, and theft each.
The session was formally flagged off by the Deputy chief justice, Justice Richard Buteera at Mbarara Main Prison.
The court of Appeal session will be handled by Justices; Eva Luswata, Kibedi Muzamir (head of the panel), Christopher Gashirabake.
Justice Kibedi Muzamir, the head of the panel says the rights of the appellants have been violated since the judiciary can’t speed up the hearing of the cases.
He added that the delay puts a shame on the nation which is not able to live up to the standard requirements of the Constitution.
Deputy Chief justice Richard Buteera noted that the country still faces congestion in prisons as the biggest challenge but the judiciary is trying it’s best to work on it as one of the measures to solve the problem.
Buteera also noted that a decision has been taken to have regional courts of Appeal and constitution in Mbarara noting that they await approval of Cabinet and Parliament to approve an increase on the current number of Justices from 15 to 56.
