Plastic surgery for witnesses

JUSTICE minister Albert Kawana said some state witnesses in court cases will be asked to voluntarily change their identity or undergo plastic surgery in order to hide from people they are exposing.

Kawana made these remarks when he tabled the Witness Protection Bill in the National Assembly last week.

The new bill will establish a directorate for witness protection in the justice ministry. The staff members of that directorate will be vetted by the Namibia Central Intelligence Service.

The bill shows that there is a plan to create a witness protection programme under that directorate.

Kawana said Namibia must enact laws to cater for events such as terrorism attacks so that “we should not be found with our pants down, so to speak”.

He said the dangers of being a witness includes death, especially in cases such as terrorism, drug trafficking and high treason.

“In such a situation, accused persons will do everything possible to eliminate witnesses in order to save their necks,” he said.

The bill proposes several tactics to protect witnesses, including changing their appearance.

“In some cases, witnesses will be required to voluntarily change their identity, and even to undergo plastic surgery with a view to concealing their identity,” he stated.

The justice minister said the person’s original identity will be restored when it is established that the witness is no longer under threat.

New documents such as birth certificates will be issued to the witness with a new identity, but the person will have to get permission from the government if he or she wants to get married.

The bill said a protected witness with a new identity can only get married if the director of the witness protection directorate is satisfied with reasons such as whether the person is divorced, previous spouse died, and that there will not be legal challenges to the new marriage.

Kawana said in some instances, the government will have to import witnesses from other countries.

“This will be done on a reciprocal basis. It may happen that due to the seriousness of the case under consideration, such as terrorism, it will be necessary to relocate key witnesses to other countries,” he hoped.

The minister said Namibia’s small population also means that witnesses might be relocated to other countries to protect them. “Witnesses must feel protected, and if need be, together with their families, so that they can come forward to give evidence in order to put perpetrators of such serious crimes behind bars,” Kawana added.

Currently, witnesses in criminal proceedings are protected under the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act of 1977, but the process is not voluntary since it is initiated by the prosecutor general, who decides whether a person needs protection.

In that case, a witness has no say in the matter, and he or she can even be placed under protection without his or her consent, the minister said.

A witness protection advisory committee is also proposed in the new bill. This committee will, among others, recommend policy matters and changes to the law.

The bill also allows for the creation of a witness protection fund, which will get its money from the state and other legitimate sources such as through the Prevention of Organised Crime Act. That fund will be audited by the auditor general.

Kawana said the fund will also cater for expenses such as transport and food for the witnesses since they cannot eat in public places. Besides that, the bill also allows that the government provides “financial and other assistance to the protected person for the purpose of meeting the reasonable living expenses of the protected witness, including, where appropriate, living expenses of the protected person’s family”.

Another perk of being a protected witness will be that the state might fund the person’s education, and assist the witness to find work.

According to the minister, the experience of other countries had shown that payments for witness expenses have to be made even at night to enable witnesses to be moved from one place to another for safety reasons.

Kawana said a witness protection review tribunal will also be set up to review the decisions made by the witness protection directorate.

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