The State says it is preparing to resurrect a criminal case against three former leaders of the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC), just after a Lilongwe court threw out arrest warrants issued against them.
Prosecutors had secured the warrants earlier this month, accusing Timothy Mtambo, Gift Trapence and McDonald Sembereka of breaching bail conditions linked to a case that was withdrawn six years ago.
But in a dramatic courtroom setback for the prosecution, Chief Resident Magistrate Austin Banda ruled on Wednesday that the warrants could not stand because the criminal case itself no longer existed.
The State led by head of prosecutions at Malawi Police, Prescott Mwayiulipo, told the court it now intends to formally apply to revive the matter, following the magistrate’s ruling.
Magistrate Banda advised the State that if it wished to pursue the case, it would first have to make a formal application seeking to restore it.
Only Gift Trapence appeared in court. Former HRDC chairperson Timothy Mtambo was notably absent, while McDonald Sembereka, who has only recently completed a diplomatic posting in the United Kingdom, was unable to attend.
After the ruling, Trapence quietly left the courthouse, refusing to answer questions from a crowd of waiting journalists.
His lawyer, Khwima Mchizi, welcomed the decision, arguing that prosecutors had wrongly presented the matter as an active case when seeking the arrest warrants.
Mchizi maintained that the case was officially discharged after the State successfully applied to withdraw it on October 1, 2020.
He also fired a warning shot at prosecutors, insisting his clients were ready for any renewed courtroom fight.
“We were ready in 2020, we should be very ready in 2026,” he said.
Delivering his ruling, Banda said court records clearly showed that his predecessor, Violet Chipao, now a High Court judge, had granted the State’s request to withdraw the case.
Because the matter was withdrawn, he ruled, the bail conditions automatically ceased to have effect.
“The warrants of arrest are not attainable and the court, therefore, cancels the warrants,” Banda declared.
The three men were arrested in March 2020 and accused of plotting to march on State House during nationwide demonstrations challenging the disputed 2019 Tripartite Elections.
Those protests erupted after the Constitutional Court overturned the 2019 presidential election over widespread irregularities and ordered a fresh vote, a landmark decision later upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeal.
The latest legal twist now sets the stage for yet another courtroom showdown, with prosecutors signalling they are determined to breathe life back into a case many believed had been buried for good.
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