Mwanje and others return to court for trial over Kigundu

 By Sania Babirye

The former acting Amir of Nakaserero Mosque  sheikh  Yahaya Ramathan Mwanje and seven others have been committed to the international crimes division of the high court to be tried over murder and terrorism charges.

This morning senior prosecutors Lillian Omora and Jonathan Muwaganya informed Buganda road  court chief magistrate Jamson Kareemani  that the Director of Public prosecutions Mike Chibita has directed them to have the accused committed after completion of investigations.

 On the 6th of this month Sheikh Mwanje and his first three co accused  were charged afresh with Murder, Terrorism and aiding a terror group ADF after the DPP withdrew his first murder charges that Sheikh Mwanje and three others were already being tried in the high court.

The process was to allow state to add four more suspects and slap fresh charges of Murder, Terrorism, and aiding a terror group  on all the suspects so that the entire group can be tried together.

The new suspects  are part of the 14 people  who are also charged with the murder of former police spokesman AIGP Andrew Felix Kaweesi.

They include Yusuf Nyanzi,  Kalyango Jibril, Balyejusa Noordin and Bruhan Balijusa.

Other suspects include 43 year old bodaboda rider  Buyondo Muhammad a resident of Nsanji, 37 year old Sendegeya Abdul Wahab a bodaboda rider in Kyengere Nsanji and a 43 year old  business man in Masanafu  Sekandi Musa.

According to  the new charges Sheikh Mwanje and his co accused with others still at large,  on the 26 of November 2016 at Masanafu trading center Rubaga division murdered Major Muhammad Kigundu and his body guard  sergeant Stephen Mukasa.

The state further says that the suspects between 2010 and 2017 within the different district in the country aided and abetted terrorism by way of recruitment and  rendering support in form of training ADF members .

Meanwhile Nyanzi and Kalyango are  separately  charged with belonging and confessing to belong to ADF between 2010 and 2012.

The chief magistrate has however bared them  from  pleading to the new charges since they are capital in nature and only tried and bailed by the high court.

They have all been remanded to Luzira prison until the court will finally set a date for hearing of the case.

Mwanje  was arrested in November 2016 and detained  at Nalufenya until January 2017 when  he was finally charged.