British and Ugandan Boyfriends go on Trial over Explicit Gay Sex Videos
Ugandan prosecutors deny the men have been ‘medically tested’ to see if they have been having homosexual sex
A British man and his alleged Ugandan gay lover have appeared in court in Uganda accused of having gay sex videos.
British ex-pat and former banker Bernard Randell, believed to be 65, and Albert Cheptoyet, thought to be 30, appeared at Entebbe Chief Magistrate Court.
Gay Star News previously reported on the case, which was first picked up by Ugandan tabloid newspaper Sunday Pepper after their arrests on 19 October.
At the time we didn’t name the suspects to protect them, but their names have now been released into the world media following the court hearing.
It is believed they were charged with trafficking in obscene publications and Cheptoyet may also have been charged with ‘procuring another person to commit acts of gross indecency’.
The notoriously homophobic Sunday Pepper had made salacious allegations about the pair but Ugandan prosecutors have denied local media reports the charges are purely for ‘homosexual acts’.
Same-sex relationships are already punishable by 14 years jail in Uganda with politicians threatening to make the laws even tougher by extending the death penalty to ‘repeat offenders’.
But the country is still likely to be sensitive to criticism if they openly prosecute and imprison people simply for consensual gay sex. Its Anti-Homosexuality Bill, dubbed the ‘Kill the Gays Bill’, appears to now be on the back burner after international condemnation.
So while homosexuality is certainly at the heart of the case, it is the other allegations around pornography Ugandan officials are publicly admitting to.
GSN sources who took these photos at the hearing said Anti-Homosexuality Coalition members were also present in court.
Ugandan publications have claimed the pair were going for or had gone for ‘medical tests’ to discover if they had gay anal sex.
But Ugandan prosecutors have also denied this.
The presiding judge confessed this is the first case of its kind she has dealt with and therefore said she needed time to consider it, although she pledged it would be dealt with as soon as possible.
Randell and Cheptoyet were released on bail of UGX1.5million ($593,000 €430,000) while their sureties were bonded at UGX500,000 ($198,000 €143,000). They are due to return to court on 18 November.
BriProsecutors at the hearing on 22 October had objected to bail being granted, claiming the men may ‘lure’ others into gay ‘practices’.
Activists from Uganda Gay On Move have ‘strongly condemned’ the government for the arrests describing them as an ‘invasion of privacy’. They have warned other people will use some of the trumped-up allegations against the pair as ‘an excuse to blackmail LGBT people’.
The men apparently live together in Katabi village, a suburb of the major town of Entebbe, just south of the capital Kampala.
The British Foreign Office is aware of the arrest and said it is providing Randell with consular assistance.
Comments