Kampala, Uganda – Ugandan environmental activists and legal observers are voicing fresh concern after yet another delay in the bail hearing of the KCB11, a group of climate defenders arrested more than two months ago for protesting against the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).
The activists were scheduled to appear in court today, June 26, 2025, but their hopes for justice were dashed when the magistrate overseeing the case went on leave without prior notice, prompting a postponement of the bail hearing to July 2.
“This is exactly what we meant when we called out the weaponization of the judiciary,” tweeted the Stop EACOP campaign, a global movement advocating against the pipeline’s construction.
In court, lawyers representing the #KCB11 formally requested a judicial reassignment of the case, citing unfair delays, absence of transparency, and signs of political interference.
“This is not procedural delay, it is strategic suppression,” said Joan Namaganda, one of the lead attorneys on the case. “Our clients have already been denied justice for 64 days. How much longer should they wait?”
The #KCB11 is a group of young environmental activists, arrested on April 23, 2025, after staging a peaceful protest and attempting to deliver a petition to KCB Bank in Kampala, calling on the institution to divest from EACOP.
They were charged with trespass, and despite the State not objecting to bail, the activists remain in pre-trial detention.
“We were simply asking a bank to choose the planet over profits,” said one of the detainees in a previous statement smuggled out through their legal team.
The East African Crude Oil Pipeline project, a 1,443-km pipeline led by TotalEnergies and the Uganda National Oil Company, has sparked fierce resistance from environmentalists, legal experts, and global climate justice movements due to its threat to wetlands, rivers, and communities, potential displacement of over 100,000 people and long-term contribution to climate change through fossil fuel expansion
Campaigners now fear that the prolonged detention of the #KCB11 is part of a broader trend of silencing environmental dissent across Uganda and East Africa.
Online, outrage continues to mount with civil society organizations, youth groups, and international observers calling for their immediate release.
“We’re not just watching. We’re documenting,” said a representative from Amnesty International Uganda.
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