Know Your Rights 9: The right to a fair trial

Chapter 4 of the Constitution of Uganda, also known as The Bill of Rights, details the rights of all Ugandan citizens. Whether you are a person with a disability (PWD) or not, all these rights are yours.

Article 28 of the Constitution of Uganda guarantees that everyone has the right to a fair trial. No one should be put into jail without a good reason. You are innocent until proven guilty.

How does this right affect a PWD? The law is very clear:

• If you are deaf or have difficulty hearing you are entitled to a sign language interpreter to explain why you have been arrested and provide interpretation in court.
• If you are blind or have difficulty seeing you are entitled to read and know the law in braille. 
• If you are a PWD in a wheelchair or if you walk with crutches you should be able to access courts using ramps and lifts.

Ugandan lawyers strategise about how to take disability rights cases to court

The Constitution of Uganda details Article 28 like this:

28. Right to a fair hearing. 

(1) In the determination of civil rights and obligations or any criminal charge, a person shall be entitled to a fair, speedy and public hearing before an independent and impartial court or tribunal established by law.

(2) Nothing in clause (1) of this article shall prevent the court or tribunal from excluding the press or the public from all or any proceedings before it for reasons of morality, public order or national security, as may be necessary in a free and democratic society.

(3) Every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall—

(a) be presumed to be innocent until proved guilty or until that person has pleaded guilty;

(b) be informed immediately, in a language that the person understands, of the nature of the offence;

(c) be given adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his or her defence;

(d) be permitted to appear before the court in person or, at that person’s own expense, by a lawyer of his or her choice;

(e) in the case of any offence which carries a sentence of death or imprisonment for life, be entitled to legal representation at the expense of the State;

(f) be afforded, without payment by that person, the assistance of an interpreter if that person cannot understand the language used at the trial;

(g) be afforded facilities to examine witnesses and to obtain the attendance of other witnesses before the court.

(4) Nothing done under the authority of any law shall be held to be inconsistent with—

(a) clause (3)(a) of this article, to the extent that the law in question imposes upon any person charged with a criminal offence, the burden of proving particular facts;

(b) clause (3)(g) of this article, to the extent that the law imposes conditions that must be satisfied if witnesses called to testify on behalf of an accused are to be paid their expenses out of public funds.

(5) Except with his or her consent, the trial of any person shall not take place in the absence of that person unless the person so conducts himself or herself as to render the continuance of the proceedings in the presence of that person impracticable and the court makes an order for the person to be removed and the trial to proceed in the absence of that person.

(6) A person tried for any criminal offence, or any person authorised by him or her, shall, after the judgment in respect of that offence, be entitled to a copy of the proceedings upon payment of a fee prescribed by law.

(7) No person shall be charged with or convicted of a criminal offence which is founded on an act or omission that did not at the time it took place constitute a criminal offence.

(8) No penalty shall be imposed for a criminal offence that is severer in degree or description than the maximum penalty that could have been imposed for that offence at the time when it was committed.

(9) A person who shows that he or she has been tried by a competent court for a criminal offence and convicted or acquitted of that offence shall not again be tried for the offence or for any other criminal offence of which he or she could have been convicted at the trial for that offence, except upon the order of a superior court in the course of appeal or review proceedings relating to the conviction or acquittal.

(10) No person shall be tried for a criminal offence if the person shows that he or she has been pardoned in respect of that offence.

(11) Where a person is being tried for a criminal offence, neither that person nor the spouse of that person shall be compelled to give evidence against that person.

(12) Except for contempt of court, no person shall be convicted of a criminal offence unless the offence is defined and the penalty for it prescribed by law.