By Denis Turyahebwa
Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s Court has remanded the Makerere University research fellow, Dr Stella Nyanzi, to Luzira prison on charges in connection to harassing President Museveni when she allegedly insulted his late mother on her Facebook page.
Nyanzi who was brought to court in a saloon police car through the rare exit gate demanded that the Court clerk reads the charges in her mother tongue-Luganda and repeatedly kept on reminding him of mentioning the exact words used to refer to specific body parts in her native tongue.
Nyanzi is charged with 2 counts; cyber harassment and offensive communication in which the prosecution says she had an intention of disturbing the peace of President Museveni and posted obscene messages on her official Facebook page.
Prosecution states that Nyanzi committed the offenses in September 2018 through an ironic birthday message she dedicated to the president.
Nyanzi has however not been allowed to plead to the charges because grade one magistrate Esther Nahilya had no powers to entertain her charges.
Magistrate Nahilya has remanded Nyanzi to Luzira prison until Friday -this week when she will be brought back before trial magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu for purposes of taking plea.
Nyanzi was arrested on Friday Last week from Wandegeya police station where she had gone to seek permission and security to organise a peaceful demonstration against Makerere University’s refusal to re-instate her as a researcher following a 2 year suspension due to alleged misconduct.
