Justice Comfort Kania of the Criminal Division of the High Court has issued an order suspending celebrated blogger Antony Natif from covering the criminal proceedings in the murder trial of businessman Retired Col. Henry Katanga.
The order resulted from a complaint raised by Jonathan Muwaganya alias Lubalusewa a top prosecutor in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) who claimed that Natif’s reporting on the matter is threatening his life and that of his colleagues who include Samalie Wakholi.
The defence lawyers led by former Solicitor General Peter Kabatsi put up a spirited fight while explaining to the judge that the order is targeting their client’s freedom of speech and expression which resulted into the judge halting the hearing of the matter and summoning all the lawyers involved in the matter to her chambers
On return, the judge directed Natif never to report or write on his X and other social media handles anything concerning the matter before her until investigations into the complaint raised by senior prosecutor Muwaganya are concluded and Court directs otherwise.
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In his complaint, Muwaganya claim that Natif has been reporting on the matter with bias while making inciting statements against the prosecution side that is why they were seeking the intervention of the presiding judge.
However, journalists through their association the Uganda Court Reporters Association showed concern over the directive even though Natif is not a member of the association.
They disclosed that the pharmacists turned blogger was not given a fair hearing to defend himself before the decision was taken
The judge promised to pronounce herself on the matter on Monday next week even though prosecution were happy with the decision claiming that Natif is a propaganda machine hired by the defence team to mislead the public on the proceedings of the matter using the huge following on the social media
The judge directed to print all the concerned materials being written by Natif on the matter so that she examines it to establish whether the messages are threatening Muwaganya’s life before she announces her decision.
Because of the order, Natif missed to report the testimony of DSP Bibiana Akongo the leading investigator in the murder case against the deceased’s wife Molly Katanga, her daughters Martha Nkwanzi, Patricia Kakwanza, George Amanyire a shamba boy and Charles Otai a medical doctor
Katanga was killed with a gun in 2023 at his multibillion home in Mbuya a Kampala suburbs
