By NATION REPORTER
MERITUS Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu has described as criminal and banditry for the State to have entered a nolle prosequi in a case Mumbi Phiri had been accused of murder.
Archbishop Mpundu is now demanding the release of the undelivered judgement because according to the two, the nolle in favour of Mrs Phiri was nothing but a serious miscarriage of justice.
And lawyer Makebi Zulu has said it is a travesty of justice for the State to have decided to enter a nolle prosequi in favour of Mrs Phiri when she should have been acquitted.
Mr Zulu says while it was clear that the judgement which had been replaced with a nolle was going to acquit Mrs Phiri, it was not possible that the court could release the undelivered judgement.
But both Archbishop believes that the nolle for Mrs Phiri bordered on criminality on the part of the State and is therefore demanding that the undelivered judgement should be released.
Archbishop Mpundu, the chairperson of the Our Civic Duty Association (OCiDA) said the nolle in favour of Mrs Phiri was confirmation that the State had taken over the judiciary.
Bishop Mpundu said Mrs Phiri should have been acquitted rather than entering a nolle because the consequences of a nolle were that she was not free as should be re-arrested.
The State has decided to sneak in a nolle prosequi in favour of Mrs Phiri who has been in prison for almost two years. This is wrong…it is criminal and we do not want this kind of thing in a country where we aspire to be democratic. I am demanding the undelivered judgement. We want to know what the judges said in that judgement the State has decided to expange,” Archbishop Mpundu said.
He said what the State had done was to arrest the judgement by producing a nolle prosequi on a day judgement was supposed to be delivered.
“Tell the State through President Hichilema that Zambians will not tolerate the breaking of the rule of law. Both the prosecution and the defence were supposed to listening to the judgement but the State decides to sneak in a nolle prosequi. This is bordering on criminality. So, the State thinks the rule of law is to go and arrest the judgement. We demand the undelivered judgement and we also demand that the UPND government should not destroy the Judiciary in the manner they have destroyed the Anti- Corruption Commission (ACC), the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) and the Public Protector,” Bishop said.
But lawyer Makebi Zulu said the State decided to enter a nolle prosequi before judgement could be delivered because it knew that Mrs Phiri was innocent.
Mr Zulu stated that the State did not only fail to prove Mrs Phiri guilty but that the former PF secretary general had proved her innocence from the beginning as she had never been near the scene of the shooting incident.
“The State knew Mrs Phiri was going to be acquitted as it had completely failed to prove the case despite hiring and paying witnesses to testify against her (Mrs Phiri) So just before the judgement could be delivered, they procured a nolle. But we had expected that she should be acquitted but the State made sure judgement was not delivered. So, the only thing is that we are going to file demanding compensation for the period she had been in prison. People were given money and other were promised diplomatic jobs just to testify against Mrs Phiri but it failed. This was just to make Mrs Phiri suffer because someone claims he was incarcerated for 127 days,” Mr Zulu said.
