Wed, 07 Jun 2017 13:04:22 +0000
By CHARLES MUSONDA
HAKAINDE Hichilema and his treason co-accused will be committed to the High Court tomorrow, following an agreement between his lawyers and the State yesterday.
And the State welcomed the agreement, saying it had always looked forward to commencement of trial in the case while one defence counsel doubted if the matter would take off soon because the current criminal cause list was already full.
Hichilema’s lawyers u-turned last week on their objection to the committal certificate signed by Deputy Chief State Advocate Mariam Mutebi Bah-Matandala on behalf of Director of Public Prosecutions Lilian Shawa-Siyunyi. This was after they opted to abandon a judicial review Principal Resident Magistrate David Simusamba granted them to establish the legality of committing accused persons to the High Court using committal certificates signed by the DPP’s subordinates on her behalf.
The two parties met before Mr. Simusamba in chambers yesterday and the State did not object to the defence’s application to have the matter brought forward to this Thursday and confirm the accused persons’ committal to the High Court.
“We are more than happy because it has always been our intention to have trial take off,” said State Advocate Chimbeka Sakala. On the other hand, defence lawyer Maimbo Haimbe said it was not clear if the treason case would await High Court sessions because the June session started yesterday and its cause list was already full.
“The matter is now in the hands of the DPP and the court…according to our criminal justice system, once the case is committed the accused person has little role to play in ensuring the case proceeds in a certain manner,” Mr. Haimbe said.
And commenting on the agreement, New Congress Party president (NCP) president Pastor Peter Chanda advised Hichilema’s lawyers to avoid delaying the case any further through unnecessary preliminary issues.
Pastor Chanda also thanked the State and the Judiciary for allowing the due process of the law to take its course up to the current stage.
“This has confirmed what Chief Justice Irene Mambilima said last week that the Judiciary is independent. It is now up to Mr. Hichilema’s lawyers to ensure they do not disturb the flow of the case through unnecessary preliminary issues and applications because justice delayed is justice denied.”
