Soroti, 13th/March/2020; The High Court in Soroti presided over by His Lordship Wilson Musene Musalu has on the 13th March, granted bail bond to Vision Group Journalist and sub-Editor attached to Etop Newspaper James Odongo Akia.
The Journalist was granted a cash bail of UGX 200,000/- and his sureties a non-cash bail of UGX 1,000,000/-. James was arrested on Thursday 5th March 2020 and briefly taken to East Kyoga Regional Police Headquarters in Soroti before being taken to Kumi Police station where he was incarcerated until Tuesday 10th March 2020 when he was brought before the Magistrates court for plea taking.
The journalist applied for bail through Counsel Menya Paul of Okurut, Okalebo, & Outeke Company Advocates contracted by Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda but the court declined to grant the bail bond since the other five co-accused were already on remand.
However, another formal application bail was made before the High Court in Soroti since the continued incarceration of the journalist was unwarranted. According to the Prosecution, James Odongo Akia allegedly attacked and defamed Dr. Ekure John an Orthopedic surgeon based in Kumi using a pseudo-Facebook account in the name of Charles Okou.
James is scheduled to report before the trial magistrate Her Worship Lamunu Peace on 18th March 2020 for extension of his bail since investigations into the alleged offences is still ongoing.
