Jailed ex-MP loses appeal on release bid

Imprisoned former National Assembly member Geoffrey Mwilima has lost a Supreme Court appeal through which he tried to get a court order for his release from prison on medical grounds.

Mwilima (68) appealed to the Supreme Court after High Court judge Marlene Tommasi in September last year dismissed an application by him for an order that the minister of home affairs, immigration, safety and security should authorise his release from prison.

Mwilima also asked the court to declare that the medical officer of the Windhoek Correctional Facility, where he is imprisoned, was in contempt of a previous court order that directed him to determine if Mwilima has a dangerous illness and whether his continued incarceration is detrimental to his health.

Mwilima’s appeal was dismissed in a judgement by chief justice Peter Shivute on Wednesday. Appeal judge Dave Smuts and acting judge of appeal Theo Frank agreed with the chief justice’s decision.

Mwilima has been jailed since August 1999, when he was arrested in the wake of surprise attacks that armed separatists carried out on government-linked targets at Katima Mulilo in the then Caprivi region.

He was convicted on charges of high treason, murder and attempted murder after a marathon trial in the High Court, and in December 2015 was sentenced to an effective prison term of 18 years.

The Supreme Court reduced his sentence to 15 years’ imprisonment in an appeal judgement delivered in December 2021.

Windhoek Correctional Facility medical officer Tony Lumbidi in November 2022 recorded in a report provided to the minister of home affairs, immigration, safety and security, Albert Kawana, that Mwilima suffers from diabetes and chronic kidney failure, and that both conditions are considered to be dangerous diseases.

Lumbidi added, though, that Mwilima has access to regular dialysis sessions and to his private doctors when needed, and concluded that his continued imprisonment would not be detrimental to his health.