The opposition People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) has criticised President Yoweri Museveni for what it describes as attempts to sanitise the actions of his son, Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, against Ugandans.In a televised national address on Saturday, Museveni defended Muhoozi’s recent actions, including the arrest of opposition figures and activists as well as the closure of media houses, arguing that they were necessary to curb what he described as growing impunity among opposition actors and their supporters.The President went further, saying Ugandans should be grateful that the army is arresting suspects and taking them to court instead of shooting them on the spot.However, critics argue that many of the arrests amount to enforced disappearances, with suspects allegedly held incommunicado for days, weeks and, in some cases, months without access to lawyers or their families. Human rights groups and opposition leaders have compared the tactics to those employed during the regimes of former presidents Idi Amin and Milton Obote. Museveni dismissed those comparisons, arguing that Muhoozi’s operations are intended to prevent lawlessness and vigilantism rather than promote abuse.The President also cited the case of veteran opposition politician Dr Kizza Besigye, who he said was arrested in Kenya in November 2024 and has remained on remand while facing treason charges, accusing him of manipulating judicial processes to delay his trial. Muhoozi has repeatedly stated publicly that Besigye will be hanged over allegations that he plotted to assassinate President Museveni.In a strongly worded statement issued in response, the People’s Front for Freedom accused Museveni of shielding his son from accountability while shifting blame onto victims of alleged human rights abuses.The party said the President’s remarks sought to justify actions that have attracted widespread condemnation from opposition groups, civil society organisations and sections of the international community.Below is the full PFF statementCONFRONTING THE LIES: MUSEVENI’S JUNGLE JUSTICEThe People’s Front for Freedom strongly condemns the recent remarks by Mr. Yoweri Museveni, who shamelessly claimed that Dr. Kizza Besigye is delaying his own trial.This is an inverted narrative designed to mask a 595 days campaign of state-sponsored terror, judicial manipulation and lawlessness. We must state this boldly; an unlawful process can never yield a fair trial. What began as a violent, cross-border abduction cannot suddenly be sanitized under the guise of due process.Having failed to easily railroad Dr. Besigye through the illegalities of the Makindye Court Martial, the regime shifted tactics. They transferred the case to a civilian court handpicking a known cadre judge, Baguma Emmanuel, to complete the job the military court started.This isn’t a “speedy trial” but a fast-tracked trap designed to escort our leaders straight to a death sentence. Mr. Museveni in his previous address boasted that the state possesses “glaring evidence” sufficient to convict Dr. Besigye, yet the actions of his own prosecution team tell a completely different story, one of panic, disorganization and bad faith.Standing defiantly in the face of this judicial sham, Dr. Besigye spoke the absolute truth directly to the bench; ”Mr. Museveni should stop being shy and re-enact detention without trial.”Immediately after boasting of a foolproof case, the state filed an application to hide their witnesses and evidence from the defense only to abruptly withdraw the same, giving the defense a mere seven days to review and respond to a mountain of documents they had hidden for close to 600 days.This is not a prosecution seeking justice, it is a regime desperate to manufacture a conviction. To ensure Dr. Besigye does not mount a proper defense, the regime resorted to the outright persecution of his legal team.Abducting, torturing and slapping malicious charges on Counsel Erias Lukwago for simply attempting to serve court processes to Mr. Museveni’s son and later deporting SC Martha Karua back to Kenya and declaring her personna non grata.How can Mr. Museveni, with a straight face, accuse Dr. Besigye of “dodging trial” when the state has tied his hands, locked up his lawyer and deported his lead counsel? It is deeply sickening to watch Mr. Museveni casually joke about how abducted citizens “limp into court,” while completely ignoring the brutal machinery of abduction and torture run by his own son.Instead of addressing his son’s blatant impunity, Museveni chooses to sanitize it. If this government truly believes in the rule of law, we dare the “First Son” to step out from behind his armed guards, step into the dock and answer for the lawless abductions and torture he has overseen.If you truly have the evidence you claim to possess: put the guns away, shut down the safehouses, step out of the basements, and let us tussle it out fairly in an open dock! If the ruling has already been written in State House, let them know they have severely underestimated the unyielding resilience of Dr. Kizza Besigye and the millions of Ugandans standing with him.The post PFF to Museveni: Stop sanitising your son’s brutality appeared first on The Observer Media Ltd.