The National Unity Platform (NUP)’s deputy president for Northern Uganda, Dr Lina Zedriga has been arraigned in court in Gulu City and charged with incitement to violence contrary to section 79 (1) of the penal code act cap 128.
The 68-year-old attorney and social justice activist has been held incommunicado for weeks ever since she went missing on January 16 after being abducted by soldiers .She squarely denied the charges .
Arraigned in court without the knowledge of her lawyers, Dr Zedriga was sent on remand until February 17, 2026 when she is expected to return to court for further mention of her case.
She denies the charges.
According to the state, the former magistrate in the month of December 2025 at various places in Northern Uganda including Gulu, Amuru, Omoro, and Nwoya incited people to do an act of violence to wit, attack the supporters of the National Resistance Movement (NUP), a political party, an act based on reason of their political opinion.
The same charges were on February 6, 2026 preferred against her Western Uganda counterpart, Jolly Jacklyn Tukamushaba who was disappeared around the same time under similar circumstances.
The development comes barely a day after a section of leaders and activists in the West Nile Sub-region demanded for her unconditional release.
Dr Zedriga was picked up from her home in Gayaza Kyetume by armed men in military outfit on January 16, 2026 but security agencies denied holding her.
The prime minister of the Lugbara Cultural Institution, Mr Ismail Tuku said on Thursday that the trend of disappearances of the people from West Nile has caused concern among local leaders.
“In Lugbara culture, the disappearance of a Lugbara is either attributed to drowning, being burnt in wildfire, being bitten by a venomous snake, being murdered or in case of a mature female, being married off,” Mr Tuku said.
He noted that: “The period of Dr Lina Zedriga’s disappearance has superseded the culturally tolerable search period for establishing cause of disappearance. Any disappearance of a Lugbara is not taken lightly in Lugbara culture. We appeal to the government arms responsible for the protection of all citizens to take full responsibility to find our daughter Lina Zedriga dead or alive so as to allay fears and increasing anxiety related to her continued absence among the people.”
Dr Zedriga was appointed as Deputy President of the NUP (formerly the People Power Movement) by the party president, Mr Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine in April 2020 to lead political mobilisation in Northern Uganda.
Before joining politics, she lived her life as a war-widow and single mother, since August 2001. She had been passionate about genocide prevention, given her experiences with the aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide and the West Nile Massacre of 1979 as well as the Kanungu Massacre in 2000.
She is the Secretary of Uganda’s National Committee for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity and All Forms of Discrimination and attended AIPR’s 2014 Raphael Lemkin Seminar, Global Edition.
A former Magistrate, Dr Zedriga is now a full-time activist working to end social exclusion and all forms of discrimination against vulnerable groups, especially women.
Additionally, she served as the Director of Women in Peace Building and Reconciliation and actively involved with the Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE), the Association of Women Lawyers Uganda (FIDA-U), Trust for Africa’s Orphans (TAO-U), and Kampala Quality Primary Schools (KQPS), among other organizations.
Days ago, security agencies charged with arresting suspects denied knowledge of her whereabouts.
The Uganda Police Spokesperson, Mr Kituuma Rusoke, said: “”We don’t have any information about her. If she was in police custody, officers would have informed me and information could have been made to that effect. We have no message for the family because we have no information.”
Past missing persons
Other people who have gone missing and the cultural institution is demanding for their accountability include Mr Stanley Yiacia from Maracha and Angulibo from Yumbe, who were picked without clear reasons.
Hundreds of NUP supporters have been arraigned in court on various charges since last month’s disputed elections. The state accuses some of them of shouting that “NRM rigged votes” during the January 15, 2026, polls. The party president, Mr Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine is in hiding after escaping a military and police raid at his home in Magerere on the night of January 16.
President Museveni’s son, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who serves as the Chief of Defence Forces, in a series of posts on X, said the military had shot dead 30 NUP supporters he described as terrorists and arrested over 2,000.
Butambala County Member of Parliament Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi who doubles as NUP deputy president in charge of Buganda is in detention following his arrest late last month.
He was on January 23 charged with terrorism days after seven of his supporters were shot dead by security operatives at his home in Butambala District.