Detained Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye appeared at Buganda Road Chief Magistrate Court, looking frail and sickly, as his bony shoulders slumped.
His sunken cheeks and hollow eyes spoke of long days without proper meals with his skin stretched thin over his prominent cheekbone
As his eyes darted around the courtroom, one could see that they were flickering with a mixture of anxiety and uncertainty.
His lawyers, led by Erias Lukwago told the court that the proceedings should not continue.
He said the state of the opposition leader did not give space for a proceeding, adding that if they continued with the business of the day, it would amount to a violation of his human rights.
Despite the Supreme Court ruling halting the trials of civilians in military courts, Besigye remains on remand facing court-martial charges.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said his government would continue to prosecute civilians in military courts despite the Supreme Court's ruling.
Besigye has been in remand since November 2024, when he was detained after being abducted in Nairobi.
He was charged with illegal possession of firearms and treachery, which carries the death penalty.
He is also facing other accusations.
On Tuesday, Besigye was expected to appear before a civilian court for a hearing on a 2022 case in which he is accused of holding an unlawful demonstration.
However, he did not attend the hearing, citing health reasons.
In a defiant mode, Besigye began his hunger strike on Tuesday.
"Kizza Besigye is on hunger strike, detained illegally by a regime that fears his defiance more than it respects the law," Besigye's wife Winnie Byanyima wrote on X late on Tuesday.
"They think they can break his spirit, but they underestimate his resolve. (Besigye) will not yield while the regime tramples on justice.”
Uganda's prisons spokesperson Frank Baine denied the assertion regarding her husband, telling Reuters: "Besigye is OK and he is not on a hunger strike."
