Six Men Denied Bail in Homosexual Video Case in Jinja District.

Six young men who appeared in a homosexual video in Jinja district have been denied bail because they did not have letters of support from their village councils. These letters are needed to confirm their residential addresses for the court. The accused, namely Geoffrey Ibanda, Sadic Wassajja, Sadat Kamya, Fabian Kalungi, Hamza Katamba, and Brian Kiiza, were arrested on charges of engaging in acts of indecency and procuring gross indecency.

According to the police, the youths were part of a homosexual network that groomed young boys for sodomy and recruited adult men into gay practices. They allegedly recorded pornographic and sex videos, which they streamed, live and submitted to donors for funding.

As per the police, the youths were discovered in possession of 192 packets of lubricants, shirts, and tags with LGBTQ symbols, as well as a metal banner displaying the LGBTQ flag and the words "peace and comfort." They were taken to the Magistrate's court in Jinja and subsequently sent to Kirinya prison.

During their court appearance on Monday, the accused presented 12 individuals as sureties to the Grade One Magistrate Yafesi Ochieng. They argued that it was their constitutional right to be granted bail, and as they were still presumed innocent, it was reasonable to grant them partial freedom. The accused also informed the court that they were peer educators and that their sureties, who were mainly their biological relatives, lacked the financial means to provide cash bail.

The prosecution requested tougher bail conditions for the youths, stating that they did not have proper documentation providing details about their fixed places of residence upon release. In response, the accused argued that they were currently in custody and unable to obtain the necessary letters from their local leaders.

However, Magistrate Ochieng dismissed their argument, stating that the court had set regulations that required the accused to provide letters from their relatives, who had knowledge of their fixed places of residence.

Ochieng also noted that the cases against the accused involved public morality and had garnered significant public interest, thus necessitating the proper identification of their residences.

Furthermore, the magistrate highlighted that releasing the accused into a society with a biased attitude towards their sexual orientation would not guarantee their safety. The matter has been adjourned until May 10th.