Lilongwe chief resident magistrate Austin Banda has cancelled arrest warrants for three former Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) leaders after finding that the State withdrew the criminal case against them in 2020.
The State earlier this month obtained warrants of arrest against former HRDC leaders Timothy Mtambo, Gift Trapence and McDonald Sembereka on the basis that they breached bail conditions in a case they were accused of threatening to march to State House in 2020.
But through their lawyer, Khwima Mchizi, the three challenged the warrants, arguing that the court had discharged the case after granting the State’s application to withdraw it on October 1 2020.
Delivering his ruling in Lilongwe yesterday, Banda said court records showed that his predecessor Violet Chipao, now a judge of the High Court of Malawi, granted the State its wish to withdraw the case on that date.
He said the withdrawal meant that the bail conditions no longer applied, leaving no conditions for the three to continue observing.
“The warrants of arrest are not attainable and the court, therefore, cancels the warrants,” Banda said.
But after the cancellation yesterday, State prosecutor Prescott Mwayiulipo informed the court that the State intended to revive the matter.
In response, the magistrate advised the State to make a formal application to resuscitate the case.
Mchizi in an interview welcomed the ruling, arguing that the State had wrongly presented the case as active when seeking the warrants.
He said he was prepared to challenge any attempt to revive the matter.
“We were ready in 2020, we should be very ready in 2026,” Mchizi said.
The trio was arrested in March 2020 for allegedly plotting to march to State House amid protests against the results of the 2019 Tripartite Elections.
The High Court of Malawi sitting as a Constitutional Court nullified the 2019 presidential election results citing irregularities in the results management process and called for a fresh election.
The decision was upheld by the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal.
