By Jimmy Chazama:
Lawyer for Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) former leaders Gift Trapence, Timothy Mtambo and Macdonald Sembereka has told the Lilongwe Chief Resident Magistrate Court that the State is “conceptually wrong” in pursuing warrants against the human rights defenders.
The applicants’ lawyer, Khwima Mchizi, told the court yesterday that the arrest warrant, which was issued earlier this month, was based on a case that was withdrawn or discontinued in 2020— meaning that bail conditions tied to it no longer exist.
“They [bail conditions] cannot be resuscitated. They cannot rise again,” Mchizi said.
He argued that a simple court record would have shown that the case was no longer there, and yet warrants were still being pursued.
Mchizi said it was wrong for the State to demand proof from the applicants when it is the State that should justify limiting a citizen’s right.
“The warrant obtained is a limitation on the applicants’ right to liberty. It is not for the applicants to show reasons why that right should be limited. It is for the State to show cause [and] why the right should be limited in the first place,” he said.
He dismissed the State’s claim that Trapence and his colleagues had failed to follow bail conditions, saying there was no case in court to justify such conditions.
“Our position is simple. There is no case in court. Therefore, there are no bail conditions to follow,” Mchizi said.
Trapence, who was the only one who appeared in court yesterday, told the court that he had obeyed bail rules between March and October 2020, though he admitted records of his reporting were missing.
The State, led by Prescot Mwayiulipo, argued that he never produced official documents to prove compliance and asked the court to dismiss his application to set aside the arrest warrant, saying the absence of records was clear evidence of a breach.
Meanwhile, Chief Resident Magistrate Austin Banda has reserved his ruling until 2pm today, saying he would decide whether the arrest warrants should stand or be cancelled.
Trapence and his colleagues were arrested in March 2020 during nationwide protests which HRCD organised.
They were granted bail with conditions that required them to report regularly to police.