…claims he was asked to pay K500,000 bribe to police office
Dutch national Jan Willem Akstar, one of the applicants in the Malawi homosexuality case and who is alleged to have sexually abused men in the country, has told the High Court in Blantyre that he is not gay.
In the case which is being heard by a panel of three judges, Joseph Chigona, Chimbizgani Kacheche, and Vikochi Chima, applicants Jana Gonani and Akstar want the Constitutional Court to interpret the constitutionality of section 153 (c) of the Penal Code of Malawi which criminalizes consensual same-sex relations between two consenting adults in private.
Gonani was sentenced to 8 years in prison over same sex relations while Akstar is facing criminal charges for allegedly sexually abusing men at Timoteos Foundation, where he was a financial director.
This morning, Akstar was being cross-examined by Attorney General Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda who is a lawyer for the state. During the cross-examination, Akstar said more than three times that he is not gay.
During further cross-examination, he told the court that he is heterosexual saying he has been “in sexual relationships with women.”
Chakaka also read out complaints from nine people who alleged that Akstar demanded oral and anal sex from workers and bursary students at Timoteos Foundation.
The Dutch national in response said the allegations against him were false.
He also claimed that after he was arrested for alleged sexual abuse, a police officer who arrested him demanded K500,000 to set him free.
According to Akstar, he was ill-treated by police because he was denied bail which was later granted by a court.
Akstar also told the court that he could not get treatment at Zomba Central Hospital in Zomba because the operating room was full of spiders.
The homosexuality case has attracted interest because one of the possible outcomes is that the laws which ban homosexuality in Malawi could be declared unconstitutional.
Last week as well as today, religious groups marched across the country to protest against legalization of homosexuality in Malawi.
