Activist and investment scheme operator Michael Amushelelo will be appealing against a ruling in which his application to be granted bail following his arrest a month ago was dismissed in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in Katutura yesterday.
Defence lawyer Kadhila Amoomo, who represented Amushelelo during his bail hearing before magistrate Sally Salionga, said yesterday that he will be filing an appeal against the bail ruling today. He estimates that the appeal would be heard in about two months’ time, Amoomo added.
Salionga turned down Amushelelo’s bail application after saying she did not foresee any suitable conditions that could be attached to his release on bail to deter him from committing similar offences. On this issue, she noted that Amushelelo was granted bail with conditions attached in two previous cases, but no change was seen in his conduct while he was free on bail.
Amushelelo (32), fellow activist Dimbulukeni Nauyoma and Popular Democratic Movement parliamentarian Inna Hengari were arrested in Windhoek on 21 March, after they had allegedly been involved in a public demonstration about unemployment in Namibia that the police had prohibited from going ahead.
They are charged with counts of public violence, incitement to public violence and malicious damage to property.
Hengari was released on bail in an amount of N$5 000 on 24 March, after the state withdrew its objections to her being granted bail.
After a bail hearing in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in Katutura, Nauyoma was also granted bail in an amount of N$5 000, on 3 April.
In her ruling yesterday, Salionga noted that Amushelelo has been released on bail in three other pending cases, which she said showed he has a propensity to commit similar offences.
Amushelelo was granted bail in the Walvis Bay Magistrate’s Court at the end of January, after he had been arrested at a protest at a shop at the harbour town.
About two weeks later, he was arrested in Windhoek. That was after a public demonstration by City of Windhoek street cleaners engaged in a strike about working conditions turned disorderly, with protesters emptying rubbish bins onto streets in the city centre.
Amushelelo was charged with counts of inciting public violence and inciting or instigating public violence and malicious damage to property, which are both offences under the Riotous Assemblies Act of 1956, following that arrest.
After a week in police custody, Amushelelo was granted bail in an amount of N$3 000 in that matter, on condition that he should not be charged with a similar offence in any district of Namibia.
Amushelelo’s release on N$3 000 bail at Walvis Bay was on condition that he should not be charged with a similar offence of taking part in an unlawful public gathering or public violence.
He is also facing 365 charges – including 348 counts of fraud, alternatively theft by false pretences – in the Windhoek High Court in connection with his role in a multimillion-dollar alleged Ponzi investment scam from September 2018 to October 2019.
Amushelelo did not testify in person during his bail hearing before Salionga.
In an affidavit submitted to the court, he said he and Nauyoma were escorting a group of protesters to the areas where they are residing when they were arrested by the police.
His arrest and prosecution are unlawful, and he had been unfairly targeted by members of the Namibian Police who want to portray him as unruly, Amushelelo said in the statement submitted to the court.
The bail hearing started last week.
Public prosecutor Tatelo Lusepani represented the state.
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