Chilumpha wants treason case set aside
Former vice-president Cassim Chilumpha has asked the High Court of Malawi to put aside permanently proceedings in his treason case.
The application comes as the court is today scheduled to start hearing the case which the High Court reinstated after the initial discharge of the matter.
In an affidavit filed on September 11 in support of the motion, Chilumpha, a lawyer who is answering treason charges alongside businessperson-cum-politician Yusuf Matumula, argues that the recommencement of the trial is in breach of their constitutional right to trial within a reasonable time.
He also said continuing prosecuting him will put him at a disadvantage as two police officers who were supposed to be his key witnesses and had crucial evidence for the case died along the way.
Further, Chilumpha argued that with passage of time, his memory and recollection of events is not as sharp as he was in 2006 or 2013 and that he will not be able to recall all the fine details to defend the matter.
Reads Chilumpha’s affidavit in part: “The delay to prosecute the matter has, therefore, occasioned incalculable prejudice to me.
“This is not a prosecution aimed at meeting the ends of justice, but is informed by an ulterior motive, being to derail my application for relief in damages.”
Chilumpha and Matumula were arrested in May 2006 and face charges bordering on a plot to assassinate former president Bingu wa Mutharika. The charges include treason and conspiracy to murder.
In October last year, the High Court discharged Chilumpha from criminal prosecution under Section 247(1) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Code.
