Kenworthy News Media, August 30, 2013.
Court case against
Swazi activists is a farce
The court case of two political activists in the tiny
absolute monarchy of Swaziland is getting increasingly farcical. Secretary
General of youth league SWAYOCO, Maxwell Dlamini, and political activist Musa
Ngubeni were arrested in 2011 on charges of contravening Swaziland’s Explosives
Act, writes Kenworthy News Media.
One example of the farcical nature of the case is the
alleged “evidence” of the explosives. First, one of the prosecution witnesses,
whose testimony had contradicted that of two other witnesses, claimed that the
explosives were too dangerous to bring to court. Then suddenly the explosives
had apparently exploded after a South African bomb expert had allegedly tried
to assemble it.
The defense attorney then requested to have the remnants
of the alleged explosives presented in court, which the prosecution has failed
to do. Instead, the prosecution wished to use undated photographs apparently
taken by the South African bomb expert of what they claimed was the remnants of
the explosives as evidence, which the court refused.
Generally, the court has failed to produce any evidence
against Maxwell and Musa.
Both Maxwell and Musa claim that they have been tortured
during their detainment in 2011, and the stiff bail of 50,000 Rand (the highest
ever in Swazi legal history), the arduous bail conditions, and a seemingly
endless court case is a commonly used way of trying to scare off other potential
activists, according to the members of Swaziland’s democratic movement that I
have spoken to.
The case will continue on October 3.
See also
UK SUPPORTS JAILED SWAZI ACTIVIST
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