Five Soldiers of the Uganda People’s Defence Force and Two officers of the Ugandan Police have been set free after espionage charges against them were dropped.
“Lt. Alex Kasamula attached to Military Police, Lt Phillip Neville Ankunda, a Special Forces Command (SFC) pilot, Pte Nathan Ndwaine, a student of flight engineering and maintenance at Nakasongola Air Defence facility, Pte Moses Asiimwe, an aeroplane mechanical engineer and Pte Godfrey Mugabi, have been set free,” according to a local news outlet with linking to the military.
The two police officers include ASP Benon Akandwanaho and ASP Frank Sabiiti.
Capt Ambrose Guma the army court prosecutor told the court chaired by Brig Mugabe Freeman that he was instructed by the director of criminal prosecutions to discontinue charges against the suspects.
The military court chairman effectively accepted the request.
“Therefore, we pray all the accused persons are discharged,” Capt Baguma said.
In response, the army court chairman accepted the request.
“The state has withdrawn charges against you all in the dock and accordingly you are set free,” Brig Mugabe said.
However, Brig. Mugabe warned, if fresh evidence is brought against them, they can be charged afresh.
Between February and May 2020 in various parts of Kampala, the accused and others still at large allegedly shared various security information with agents of the Rwandan government with the intent to prejudice Uganda’s security.
They were accused of creating a Whatsapp group, ‘Nyaruju’ where they added Rwandan secret agents and shared information considered injurious to the cohesion of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF).
The group was arrested in 2020 on suspicion of espionage for the Rwandan government at a time when the relations between the two countries had turned frosty.
