Climate Rights International says the 11 defenders have faced repeated court delays since their arrest over a peaceful petition to KCB concerning EACOP financing.
Eleven Ugandan environmental defenders have spent more than 17 months facing criminal trespass charges without a single prosecution witness testifying, prompting calls for the case to be dropped.
According to Climate Rights International, the group, known as the KCB11, was arrested on April 23, 2025, after going to the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) headquarters in Kampala to peacefully deliver a letter urging the bank to end its financial support for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).
The organisation said the defenders were instead taken to the bank’s basement by a KCB official under the pretext of arranging a meeting, where police and security personnel were waiting for them.
Climate Rights International has urged Ugandan authorities to immediately withdraw the charges, saying the case has been repeatedly delayed since the 11 were arrested.
“The case has dragged on for more than 17 months with repeated delays, without a single prosecution witness testifying,” the organisation said in a statement on Monday.
At a hearing on September 8, the court adjourned the case until September 29 and gave prosecutors what it described as a final opportunity to present their witnesses. The court indicated that it could dismiss the case if the prosecution failed to proceed again.
The 11 were charged with criminal trespass on April 25, 2025, and taken to Luzira prison, which Climate Rights International said has a history of torture and poor detention conditions.
The organisation first called for their immediate release and dismissal of the charges on June 30, 2025. The KCB11 were eventually granted bail on July 17 after spending 85 days in prison and were released the following day.
Since then, they have repeatedly returned to court while the charges have remained pending.
“The fact that 11 people were arrested and held for 85 days in a horrible prison for delivering a letter is a travesty,” Brad Adams, Executive Director at Climate Rights International said.
“The government has compounded this by holding a ridiculous prosecution over their heads for the past 17 months. This is punishment by process, and the charges should be dropped immediately.”
Climate Rights International said KCB Group had been identified as one of five financial institutions providing an initial tranche of financing for EACOP.
On September 14, the organisation wrote to KCB Group seeking information about the role of its personnel in the arrests and whether the bank had asked Ugandan authorities to withdraw the charges.
No response had been received from KCB Group at the time of publication.
EACOP is a 1,443-kilometre heated pipeline designed to transport oil from the Tilenga and Kingfisher oilfields in western Uganda to the port of Tanga on Tanzania’s coast.
Climate Rights International said more than 100,000 people in Uganda and Tanzania will permanently lose land for the pipeline and the Tilenga development.
Families affected by the projects have reported inadequate compensation, food insecurity, lost income and difficulties paying school fees.
The wider project is estimated to generate 379 million tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions over 25 years.
In August 2026, EACOP Ltd.’s deputy managing director said construction of the pipeline was 91 per cent complete, bringing the project closer to operation despite continued human rights, environmental and climate concerns.
Climate Rights International also raised concerns about the effects of the oilfields that will supply the pipeline.
Research into the TotalEnergies-operated Tilenga project found that delays in compensation, inadequate payments and the loss of productive land had left many families poorer and harmed their livelihoods.
At the CNOOC-operated Kingfisher project, a Climate Rights International investigation documented forced evictions, violence and intimidation by the military, destruction of fishing boats, sexual and gender-based violence and labour abuses.
The organisation said the lengthy KCB11 proceedings form part of a wider pattern involving people who oppose EACOP and other oil projects.
A May 2026 review by the American Bar Association of more than 25 criminal cases involving opponents of EACOP and other oil projects found what it described as systematic repression, including mass arrests, vague charges linked to peaceful activities, prolonged pretrial detention and cases that were repeatedly adjourned before being dismissed for lack of prosecution.
A 2023 investigation by Human Rights Watch also documented arbitrary arrests, threats, office raids and intimidation against environmental defenders raising concerns about Uganda’s oil developments.
Climate Rights International further raised concerns over judicial independence following remarks reportedly made by Uganda’s Chief Justice Flavian Zeija on August 7.
According to the organisation, Zeija stated, “It would be equivalent to treason for a judicial officer to put an injunction stopping the progress of an oil project because of any dispute,” and urged judicial officers to “be an aid to oil development rather than stepping on it.”
The organisation said the remarks by Uganda’s highest-ranking judicial officer warning judges against particular outcomes raise concerns about pressure on judges and interference with judicial independence.
“The Chief Justice should be defending the independence of judges, not warning them against decisions that could affect favoured oil projects,” Adams said.
“His remarks could reasonably make environmental defenders fear that courts will treat opposition to oil development as disloyal or criminal before their cases are even heard.”
Uganda’s Constitution protects freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and guarantees every person a “fair, speedy and public hearing” within a reasonable time before an independent and impartial court.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights also provide similar protections, including the right to be tried without undue delay.
Climate Rights International said peacefully approaching a bank to deliver a letter concerning a project of major public importance amounts to protected civic participation and should not lead to criminal prosecution.
The organisation also said pressure on independent civil society in Uganda has increased.
On May 17, President Yoweri Museveni signed the Protection of Sovereignty Act, which Climate Rights International said uses broad and unclear language to criminalise promoting foreign interests over Uganda’s interests and restrict certain activities supported by foreign organisations.
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The organisation said the new law, together with repeated prosecutions and statements portraying opposition to oil development as a threat to the state, risks further limiting independent voices.
Climate Rights International has called on Ugandan prosecutors to immediately withdraw the charges against all 11 defenders.
It also wants courts to review other pending protest-related cases and dismiss charges based solely on peaceful expression or assembly.
KCB Bank Uganda has been urged to clarify its role in the arrests and publicly call for the charges to be dropped, while KCB Group has been asked to commit to receiving peaceful petitions without retaliation or criminalisation.
The organisation has also called on TotalEnergies, CNOOC, EACOP Ltd., the Uganda National Oil Company and the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation to use their influence to oppose reprisals against peaceful critics of the projects.
“The KCB11 and other environmental defenders are doing what responsible citizens should do: raise concerns about decisions that will shape their communities and country for decades,” Adams said.
“Uganda should listen to them, not imprison them or keep them trapped in an endless court case.”
Source: eastleighvoice.co.ke
