Commissioner of Police Evelyn Chisale and 11 others police officers appeared before a court in Lilongwe today over the murder of Buleya Lule.
The 12 police officers have been charged and they have also been remanded at Maula Prison.
Earlier, lawyer for the officers, Enock Chibwana, asked Principal Resident Magistrate Viva Nyimba to allow the 12 officers to be kept at a police station as they await trial in the High Court to commence.
However, the state said the suspects should still go to prison and it will be up to prison authorities to segregate them.
Nyimba in his ruling, dismissed Chibwana’s application, saying there is no legal basis for keeping the suspects at a police station.
The development comes a year after Lule, a suspect in the killing of a person with albinism, died in police custody.
Buleya was arrested in February last year after suspects who admitted abducting Goodson Makanjira – a 14-year-old boy with albinism – told a court in Lilongwe that he (Buleya) promised to give them K800,000 for kidnapping the boy.
After appearing in court, Buleya was taken into police custody where he died. An autopsy conducted by pathologist report Dr Charles Dzamalala revealed that Buleya was electrocuted.
