The leader of Uganda's main opposition party was today cleared of rape charges by the country's High Court.

High Court Judge John Bosco Katutsi said that the prosecution had failed "dismally" to prove the allegations against Kizza Besigye, charges which many claim were politically motivated.

Judge Katutsi appeared to agree, describing the investigations into the alleged rape as "crude and amateurish, betraying the motives behind the case".

Besigye and his lawyers had argued that the government fabricated the charge in an attempt to keep him from challenging President Yoweri Museveni in last month's presidential elections, the country's first democratic elections in 25 years. Museveni, who has held power for more than two decades, won a new term, and Besigye’s Forum for Democratic Change has pledged to challenge the result in court.

Besigye was charged in November with raping a family friend in 1997. He had returned from four years of exile in South Africa about two weeks before he was charged.

"I find that the prosecution dismally failed to prove its case against the accused and he is accordingly set free," Katutsi told the packed courtroom.

He said that there were numerous shortcomings in the case, such as major conflicts in the alleged victim’s testimony and the fact that she did not know the date and month of the alleged crime.

After the ruling, Besigye said, "I am very happy that another case of abuse of the legal process has been successfully disposed of. ... This case has had a serious adverse effect on me personally, my family and the Forum for Democratic Change as a whole."

A multiplicity of charges have been fired at Besigye since he returned to Uganda. He also faces treason charges at the High Court. In January, the Constitutional Court ruled that that the military cannot try Besigye on a separate case of terrorism and illegal possession of firearms. He has denied all the charges.

Besigye appeared in court 25 times during the campaign period before the parliamentary and presidential elections, in which he was considered Museveni’s most formidable challenger.

"As I believe it was intended, it (the court cases) compromised my ability to campaign in the just-concluded elections," he said today. "Voters were constantly reminded that I was a suspected rapist and with the prospect of conviction on a capital offence."

Museveni won the election with just over 59 percent of the vote. Besigye, his closet rival, won 37 per cent of the vote.

"I intend to seek legal redress for the malicious prosecution and the attendant damage that I have suffered," Besigye said.

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