Bobi Wine risks life sentence on charges of ‘annoying and ridiculing’ Museveni
Ugandan pop star-turned-presidential aspirant, Bobi Wine, has been charged with intending to annoy, alarm or ridicule President Yoweri Museveni.
The singer – real name Robert Kyagulanyi – who is already facing a treason charge, appeared in court on Tuesday to answer to the charges, which he denied.
The latest charges are in connection to an incident in August 2018 when he was accused of leading a protest that led to the stoning of President Museveni’s motorcade.
If convicted Bobi Wine, and 35 others charged along with him, could face a sentence of up to life imprisonment.
However, a defiant Bobi Wine said his latest tribulations will only strengthen his resolve against Museveni’s government.
REVOLUTION
“This does not weaken us instead it’s making us stronger and making our results more definite. To president Museveni this is revolution and you cannot stop, you cannot stop revolution,” said Wine outside the courts.
The charge sheet says that Bobi Wine and his co-accused wrongfully restrained the president by refusing to give him right of way when he was travelling in northern Uganda’s Arua area in August 2018 to campaign for a ruling party candidate in a by-election.
The charges come barely a fortnight after the singer said he will challenge President Museveni in the 2021 elections “on behalf of the people.”
Bobi Wine is still facing charges in another court, for staging a protest against a law that imposed a tax on mobile money transactions and use of social media in 2018.
CLAMPDOWN
The accusation comes days after the death of Ugandan Musician, Ziggy Wine, who succumbed to injuries after being abducted and tortured by unknown people.
The artist was a close friend of Bobi Wine and a supporter of the resistance movement in the country.
The fresh charges against Bobi Wine appear to be part of a systematic clampdown on key opposition figures in the country.
Just last week, scholar, Stella Nyanzi, who is a vocal critic of Museveni, was sentenced to 18 months in prison over ‘vulgar’ posts on social media about the president.