By our reporter
The Uganda Online Media Publishers Association (OMPA) has condemned the recent raid on Red Pepper Publications Limited by security operatives, detaining five of its directors and three senior editors.
The five arrested directors include; Richard Tusiime (CEO), Patrick Mugumya (CPO), Arinaitwe Rugyendo (CM0), James Mujuni (CCO) and Johnson Musinguzi Byarabaha (CFO).
The editors are; Ben Byarabaha (Managing Editor), Richard Kintu (News Editor) and Tumusiime Francis Tinywana (Bwino Newspaper Editor who doubles as General Manager).
“We are very concerned about the unprecedented treason charges preferred against them; treason is a capital offence punishable by death,” said OMPA President Giles Muhame.
“We believe these frivolous charges, at a time when state prosecutors attached to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) are on strike and the consequent indefinite suspension of all criminal sessions by the Judiciary are designed to detain the journalists for longer than necessary,” he added.
The publication’s bosses were arrested on Tuesday as police operatives led by Kampala Metropolitan Commander Frank Mwesigwa cordoned and searched the tabloid’s main offices in Namanve after it published a story on Monday that Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni was planning to overthrow his counterpart in Rwanda.
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