KAMPALA, Uganda The Uganda Law Society has petitioned the East African Court of Justice over the government’s defiance of the Supreme Court ruling on the trial of civilians in military courts. The move comes months after the Supreme Court made a landmark ruling on January 31, 2025, that held that military courts lack jurisdiction to try civilians and ordered officials to halt all ongoing military trials of civilians and transfer them to the country’s civilian court system.

The respondent is the Attorney General of the Republic of Uganda , who is the head of the representation of the Government of Uganda, and the petitioners were the Uganda Law Society, who are the national bar that brings together all law practitioners in the country, led by Isaac Ssemakade.

The petitioners (Uganda Law Society) allege that the trial of civilians in the military court is unlawful and infringes articles 6(d), 7(2), and 8(1) of the East African Treaty for having omitted an order nullifying section 119(1)(h) of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces Act 2005, which was unanimously found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

” The respondents’ defiance through the international delay by the military, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), and the Uganda Prisons Services to take meaningful steps to implement the decree and also through the announcement of legislative or other steps to re-establish the trial of civilians by the military courts is unlawful and an infringement of articles of the East African treaty,” the petitioners argue

The applicants also revealed that Section 119(1)(h) of the UPDF Act previously authorised military courts to try civilians allegedly found in possession of firearms and other articles ordinarily the monopoly of the armed forces. They further argue that the Supreme Court’s open-ended directive to transfer cases from the military courts to the civilian courts has enabled the DPP and other state agencies to undertake this transfer process indefinitely and without following any unknown decision to charge guidelines, resulting in unfair treatment and undermining the integrity of the judicial process.

ULs also want the Government of Uganda to provide reparations and compensations to victims of human rights abuses and other violations related to the non-compliance with the aforementioned decree, in line with international standards and best practices.

They further argue that the court should direct the government of Uganda to take necessary steps to ensure the full retroactivity of the decision of the Constitutional Court, including the establishment of a structured mechanism to ensure that all victims of past arrests, detentions, convictions, and sentences under the impugned military justice system have their cases immediately reviewed at the expense of the state and are immediately released.