Second treason trial heads to High Court

BRIEF parallel proceedings in the Mariental and Katima Mulilo Magistrate’s Courts on Friday set the stage for a second High Court high treason trial of people accused of being part of an armed movement aimed at splitting the Caprivi Region from Namibia.

With the trial of 107 high treason suspects already pending in the High Court at Grootfontein, a further 12 suspects are now set to make a first, pre-trial appearance on a charge of high treason in the High Court in Windhoek on June 16. It is understood that the prosecution of the 12 is based on allegations that a movement intent on forcing the secession of the Caprivi Region, through armed means, remained active in the region for years after alleged separatists attacked Government-related targets at Katima Mulilo on August 2 1999, and that the 12 were members of such a movement.The 12 – made up of two groups of five and seven people who appeared in the Mariental and Katima Mulilo Magistrate’s Courts respectively – were informed during their court appearances that their cases were to be transferred to the High Court in Windhoek, where they are set to have a pre-trial hearing on June 16.The 12 are to be prosecuted together, in one case, according to a decision by the Prosecutor General that was conveyed to the two groups of suspects on Friday.The suspects were informed that the Prosecutor General had instructed that they should be arraigned in the High Court at Windhoek on a charge of high treason.They were further told that the Office of the Prosecutor General had indicated that the indictment that they would face, as well as a summary of facts setting out the case against them and a list of witnesses set to testify for the State, would be handed to them at their pre-trial hearing.The suspects who appeared before Magistrate AS Venatius at Mariental were Frederick Isaka Ntambilwa, Hoster Simasiku Ntombo, Boster Mubuyeta Samuele, John Tembwe Mazila and Alex Mafwila Liswani.All of them were arrested during 2002 in connection with an alleged plot to overthrow the State authority in the Caprivi and to establish a separate state.According to the Namibian Police, Ntambilwa was arrested on July 18 2002; Mazila and Ntombo were arrested on September 20 2002; and Samuele and Mafwila were taken into custody on December 7 2002.Samuele and Mafwila were arrested after the Botswana authorities had handed them over to their Namibian counterparts.A companion of theirs who was arrested at the same time, Osbert Mwenyi Likanyi, is one of the 13 treason suspects who successfully challenged the High Court’s jurisdiction over them, based on claims that the correct legal procedures were not followed when they were brought from Zambia or Botswana to be arrested and prosecuted in Namibia.Appearing at Katima Mulilo on Friday were Progress Kenyoka Munuma, Samulandela Shine Samulandela, Manuel Manepelo Makendano, Vincent Siliye Liswaniso, Vincent Kashu Sinasi, Alex Sinjabata Mushakwa and Salufu Diamond Samunzala.These seven were arrested in December, after the Botswana authorities returned them to Namibia, having revoked the asylum that it had previously given them.The reason given for the cancellation of their asylum was that they had broken the conditions of their stay in Botswana, inter alia by having returned to Namibia illegally while they were supposed to be refugees in Botswana.All of the 12 suspects were remanded in custody pending their next court appearance on June 16.It is understood that the prosecution of the 12 is based on allegations that a movement intent on forcing the secession of the Caprivi Region, through armed means, remained active in the region for years after alleged separatists attacked Government-related targets at Katima Mulilo on August 2 1999, and that the 12 were members of such a movement.The 12 – made up of two groups of five and seven people who appeared in the Mariental and Katima Mulilo Magistrate’s Courts respectively – were informed during their court appearances that their cases were to be transferred to the High Court in Windhoek, where they are set to have a pre-trial hearing on June 16.The 12 are to be prosecuted together, in one case, according to a decision by the Prosecutor General that was conveyed to the two groups of suspects on Friday.The suspects were informed that the Prosecutor General had instructed that they should be arraigned in the High Court at Windhoek on a charge of high treason.They were further told that the Office of the Prosecutor General had indicated that the indictment that they would face, as well as a summary of facts setting out the case against them and a list of witnesses set to testify for the State, would be handed to them at their pre-trial hearing.The suspects who appeared before Magistrate AS Venatius at Mariental were Frederick Isaka Ntambilwa, Hoster Simasiku Ntombo, Boster Mubuyeta Samuele, John Tembwe Mazila and Alex Mafwila Liswani.All of them were arrested during 2002 in connection with an alleged plot to overthrow the State authority in the Caprivi and to establish a separate state.According to the Namibian Police, Ntambilwa was arrested on July 18 2002; Mazila and Ntombo were arrested on September 20 2002; and Samuele and Mafwila were taken into custody on December 7 2002.Samuele and Mafwila were arrested after the Botswana authorities had handed them over to their Namibian counterparts.A companion of theirs who was arrested at the same time, Osbert Mwenyi Likanyi, is one of the 13 treason suspects who successfully challenged the High Court’s jurisdiction over them, based on claims that the correct legal procedures were not followed when they were brought from Zambia or Botswana to be arrested and prosecuted in Namibia. Appearing at Katima Mulilo on Friday were Progress Kenyoka Munuma, Samulandela Shine Samulandela, Manuel Manepelo Makendano, Vincent Siliye Liswaniso, Vincent Kashu Sinasi, Alex Sinjabata Mushakwa and Salufu Diamond Samunzala.These seven were arrested in December, after the Botswana authorities returned them to Namibia, having revoked the asylum that it had previously given them.The reason given for the cancellation of their asylum was that they had broken the conditions of their stay in Botswana, inter alia by having returned to Namibia illegally while they were supposed to be refugees in Botswana.All of the 12 suspects were remanded in custody pending their next court appearance on June 16.