New treason suspects sent back to Magistrate’s Court

WITH only Police and Prison officers and court personnel present, the seven high treason suspects who were recently extradited from Botswana, made a low-key first appearance in the High Court at Grootfontein late yesterday afternoon.

The seven – Progress Kenyoka Munuma, Manuel Manepelo Makendano, Samulandela Shine Samulandela, Vincent Siliye Liswaniso, Vincent Khasu Sinasi, Alex Sinjabata Mushakwa and Salufu Diamond Samunzala – made a second court appearance, this time in the Grootfontein Magistrate’s Court, after normal court hours yesterday. That was after their case was removed from the court roll during their appearance before Judge Elton Hoff in the High Court.The suspects, whose return to Namibia last month has been criticised by human rights organisations as an abduction, appeared before Judge Hoff after proceedings in the continuing hearing of a jurisdiction challenge by 13 of the 120 high treason accused were adjourned.Those proceedings, which resumed after a two-month break yesterday, are also focusing on claims of abduction.Thirteen of the treason suspects are claiming that they were unlawfully abducted from Botswana or Zambia to Namibia, and that because of these claimed illegalities a Namibian court cannot exercise jurisdiction over them.The seven are now scheduled to appear in the Katima Mulilo Magistrate’s Court again on February 2.Magistrate Andre le Roux transferred their case back to that court yesterday after he had explained the rights to legal representation to the seven suspects.The leader of the prosecution team working on the Caprivi high treason case, Deputy Prosecutor General Herman January, had asked Judge Hoff to remove the case of the seven from the court roll because they had, according to him, not been correctly transferred to the High Court when they first appeared in the Katima Mulilo Magistrate’s Court on December 15.January said the transfer of their case had been incorrect, because it was done without the instructions of the Prosecutor General and before the seven had been asked to give a first plea in the Magistrate’s Court on the charges against them.This is normally a procedure that is completed in the lower court before the PG makes a decision on the further prosecution of a suspect.The seven remain in custody.The circumstances of their arrest in Namibia after they were returned from Botswana where they had been given refugee status, drew sharp criticism and accusations of abduction from Namibia’s National Society for Human Rights and its Botswana counterpart, Ditshwanelo, in December.The human rights organisations claimed that the seven were asylum seekers who had been forcibly returned to the country from which they had fled in the first place because of fears of persecution.The Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Botswana, Benny Otim, also commented in a press statement last month that the UNHCR viewed the alleged “forced return” of the seven “with utmost concern”.According to Otim, the UNHCR office in Botswana had never been informed or consulted by the Botswana government before the seven and another Namibian national were returned to Namibia.According to the Botswana government and the Namibian Police, the seven were returned to Namibia after their refugee status in Botswana was revoked.That was done because they had violated UNHCR regulations as well as Botswana laws, by having illegally returned to Namibia while they were supposed to be refugees under Botswana’s protection, it has been claimed.That was after their case was removed from the court roll during their appearance before Judge Elton Hoff in the High Court. The suspects, whose return to Namibia last month has been criticised by human rights organisations as an abduction, appeared before Judge Hoff after proceedings in the continuing hearing of a jurisdiction challenge by 13 of the 120 high treason accused were adjourned. Those proceedings, which resumed after a two-month break yesterday, are also focusing on claims of abduction. Thirteen of the treason suspects are claiming that they were unlawfully abducted from Botswana or Zambia to Namibia, and that because of these claimed illegalities a Namibian court cannot exercise jurisdiction over them. The seven are now scheduled to appear in the Katima Mulilo Magistrate’s Court again on February 2. Magistrate Andre le Roux transferred their case back to that court yesterday after he had explained the rights to legal representation to the seven suspects. The leader of the prosecution team working on the Caprivi high treason case, Deputy Prosecutor General Herman January, had asked Judge Hoff to remove the case of the seven from the court roll because they had, according to him, not been correctly transferred to the High Court when they first appeared in the Katima Mulilo Magistrate’s Court on December 15. January said the transfer of their case had been incorrect, because it was done without the instructions of the Prosecutor General and before the seven had been asked to give a first plea in the Magistrate’s Court on the charges against them. This is normally a procedure that is completed in the lower court before the PG makes a decision on the further prosecution of a suspect. The seven remain in custody. The circumstances of their arrest in Namibia after they were returned from Botswana where they had been given refugee status, drew sharp criticism and accusations of abduction from Namibia’s National Society for Human Rights and its Botswana counterpart, Ditshwanelo, in December. The human rights organisations claimed that the seven were asylum seekers who had been forcibly returned to the country from which they had fled in the first place because of fears of persecution. The Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Botswana, Benny Otim, also commented in a press statement last month that the UNHCR viewed the alleged “forced return” of the seven “with utmost concern”. According to Otim, the UNHCR office in Botswana had never been informed or consulted by the Botswana government before the seven and another Namibian national were returned to Namibia. According to the Botswana government and the Namibian Police, the seven were returned to Namibia after their refugee status in Botswana was revoked. That was done because they had violated UNHCR regulations as well as Botswana laws, by having illegally returned to Namibia while they were supposed to be refugees under Botswana’s protection, it has been claimed.