National News
Court dismisses treason suspects’ assault claims
GOVERNMENT lawyers have successfully defended a third batch of civil claims by high treason suspects who claim they were assaulted and tortured after being arrested about ten years ago.
In a judgement delivered in the High Court on Friday, Acting Judge Hosea Angula dismissed the damages claims in which three of the men being prosecuted in the main Caprivi high treason trial were suing the Ministers of Home Affairs and Defence for a combined N$710 000.
Acting Judge Angula’s judgement is the third since April last year in which the High Court has dismissed civil claims against the two ministers in which charged suspects in the high treason trial were demanding compensation for having allegedly been unlawfully arrested and assaulted after the armed attacks that rocked Katima Mulilo on August 2 1999.
With the three judgements, six civil claims against the two ministers have so far been dismissed with costs. Twenty-four similar damages claims have been settled out of court, while another 88 claims are still pending.
In the case before Acting Judge Angula, treason suspect Rex Kapanga was claiming N$80 000 for alleged unlawful arrest on November 15 1999. He also claimed N$300 000 for alleged assault by Police officers on November 15 and 16 1999.
A co-accused of Kapanga in the main high treason trial, Frederick Lutuhezi, claimed he was unlawfully arrested at Makanga, a village in the Caprivi Region, on April 15 2000, and demanded compensation of N$80 000 for this. He also claimed he had been assaulted by members of the Namibian Police and the Namibia Defence Force on August 7 1999. For this alleged assault, Lutuhezi sued the two ministers – who at that stage were the ministers responsible for the Namibian Police and the NDF – for N$200 000.
Another co-accused in the treason trial, Roster Lukato, wanted N$50 000 from the two ministers, claiming he was assaulted by a Police officer at Makanga on April 15 2000, when he was arrested.
The ministers defended the three claims, denying that the assaults had taken place and stating that the arrests were lawful and were carried out as a result of a reasonable suspicion that the three men had been involved in acts of high treason and murder.
Kapanga, who was a teacher at the time of his arrest, told the court that up to the point when he was testifying before Acting Judge Angula, he had not been informed why he was arrested. That claim, Acting Judge Angula commented in his judgement, is absurd, if not false.
Lutuhezi initially told the court that up to the day of his testimony he had not been informed of the reason for his arrest. Under cross-examination he then conceded he was told he was being arrested for allegedly having been involved in the August 2 1999 attacks. Later on he again changed his version, saying he was told of the reason of his arrest when a warning statement was taken from him on April 19 2000.
“In my view his changing of his version makes his version highly unreliable,” Acting Judge Angula commented, before finding that Lutuhezi has not proven that he had been arrested unlawfully.
Acting Judge Angula noted in his judgement that Kapanga claimed he was assaulted over two days and sustained injuries to his legs, chest, stomach and buttocks. The injuries however were not noticed or seen by anybody, including the Magistrate and Public Prosecutor who were in court when Kapanga made a first appearance in the Katima Mulilo Magistrate’s Court after his arrest, Acting Judge Angula noted.
Two of the Police officers whom Kapanga tried to implicate in the alleged assault had already been transferred from Katima Mulilo at the time of his arrest, the court also heard.
“Having considered all the evidence, I am not satisfied that Kapanga’s version is true and accurate. On the other hand I cannot say that the version advanced on behalf of the defendants is false,” Acting Judge Angula said.
On Lutuhezi’s claim that he had been assaulted, Acting Judge Angula noted that Lutuhezi initially claimed he was treated at a clinic after he had been assaulted. Later on, though, he dropped this claim of having been treated at a clinic.
“It would appear to me that Lutuhezi’s evidence in this respect viewed in totality amounts to a fabrication,” Acting Judge Angula stated, finding that Lutuhezi has not proven the assault claim either.
Lukato claimed when he was assaulted he was hit with fists, slapped and kicked, and that his face was swollen and his nose bleeding after the assault.
The Magistrate and the Public Prosecutor who were in court when Lukato made a first court appearance after his arrest did not observe any injuries on his face, though, and Lukato also did not report that he had been assaulted when he appeared before a Magistrate at Grootfontein to make an alleged confession on May 5 2000, the court heard.
Lukato was found in possession of an AK47 rifle and ammunition when he was arrested, the court was told. Acting Judge Angula remarked that in his opinion it was possible that because of the firearm and ammunition that were found with him, Lukato may have been manhandled when he was arrested, but that this was not to the extent that he tried to make out.
Kapanga, Lutuhezi and Lukato were represented by Legal Assistance Centre lawyers Lynita Conradie and Toni Hancox. George Coleman, instructed by the Government Attorney, represented the two ministers.
