The trial of Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) Executive Director Sylvester Namiwa and eleven other people failed to start today in Lilongwe.
Chief Resident Magistrate for Nkukula Magistrate Court at Lumbadzi in Lilongwe Cecilia Onsewa adjourned the case to Tuesday.
Representative for the suspects, Counsel Oscar Taulo said that the case has been adjourned because Onsewa, the Magistrate handling the case, has been given a new role at the Industrial Relations Court.
He added that the state stipulated that matter will be taken to Lilongwe Chief Resident Magistrate Court in order to assign the case to another Magistrate.
Namiwa was arrested on 11 August near the SADC summit venue in Lilongwe for leading a protest and was granted bail on 13 August after spending two nights in police custody.
The activist filed an application at the high court for a judicial review over his arrest. The high court will hear the application on September 30.
“Now, we have made an application to the Nkukula Magistrate Court that it should respect the decision of the high court and stop with proceedings to let the high court handle the case,” said Taulo.
The protest which Namiwa organized in August was aimed to force parliament leadership to explain how a K93 billion loan bill found its way into Parliament without the knowledge of Attorney General, Minister of Justice and Minister of Finance.
