Trial of civilians in military courts: the Supreme Court ruling and the UPDF (Amendment) Act, 2025

Legal update Free Criminal procedure Updated 9 June 2026 AI-generated

Pending verification: The exact neutral citation and the assent/commencement dates of the UPDF (Amendment) Act, 2025. Treat the flagged points as provisional and confirm them before relying on them.

In brief

The Supreme Court in Kabaziguruka held civilians cannot be tried in military courts; the UPDF (Amendment) Act, 2025 then re-legislated it.

What changed

In Attorney General v Hon. Michael A. Kabaziguruka (Constitutional Appeal No. 2 of 2021), the Supreme Court of Uganda held that the General Court Martial is not a court of law within Articles 126 and 129 of the Constitution, declared the provisions of the UPDF Act permitting the trial of civilians in military courts unconstitutional, and ordered ongoing civilian trials before the court martial to stop and be transferred to the ordinary courts. Parliament then passed the Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces (Amendment) Act, 2025, which the President assented to, re-introducing the trial of civilians in military courts in defined circumstances and creating a Directorate of Military Prosecutions.

What it affects

Anyone facing or advising on proceedings before the General Court Martial — the jurisdictional position changed twice in 2025.
Re-flag for review: the arrest, police-bond and bail notes, checklists and the Arrest & bail toolkit, to note the military-court jurisdiction question.
The constitutionality of the UPDF (Amendment) Act, 2025 is itself contested; opposition MPs signalled a fresh challenge. Treat the position as live and developing.

Effective date & transition

Effective date: Supreme Court decision: 2025. UPDF (Amendment) Act, 2025: passed by Parliament 20 May 2025 and assented by the President (June 2025).

The Supreme Court ordered pending civilian court-martial trials to be transferred to the ordinary courts. The subsequent Act's application to existing matters should be checked against its commencement and transitional provisions.

Primary sources

Citations

Attorney General v Hon. Michael A. Kabaziguruka, Constitutional Appeal No. 2 of 2021 (Supreme Court, 2025).
Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces (Amendment) Act, 2025 (passed 20 May 2025; assented June 2025).
Constitution, arts. 28, 126, 129; UPDF Act, Cap. 330 — s.119.

Legal update · Criminal procedure. Actively maintained. Last reviewed 9 June 2026; next review due 9 December 2026. This resource is a practitioner orientation and general information, not legal advice, and does not create an advocate–client relationship. It is AI-generated. Ugandan law changes and chapter and section numbers were revised in the 2023 Laws of Uganda. Verify every statute, rule, form, fee and authority against the current primary source — and the specific facts of your matter — before relying on it.