PG defends prosecution of acquitted activists suing for N$10 million

The prosecutor general (PG) is denying that activists Dimbulukeni Nauyoma and Michael Amushelelo were maliciously prosecuted.

This is before they were found not guilty in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court last year.

The PG’s defence of Nauyoma and Amushelelo’s prosecution is recorded in a plea filed in the Windhoek High Court. The plea is in response to a multimillion-dollar lawsuit the two activists instituted against the home affairs, immigration, safety and security minister, Namibian Police inspector general and the PG in March this year.

Nauyoma and Amushelelo are suing the minister, inspector general and PG for a total of N$10 million in connection with their arrest in Windhoek on 21 March last year, the subsequent period that they spent in custody and their prosecution before they were acquitted.

Amushelelo is claiming N$6 million from the three defendants. Nauyoma is claiming N$4 million.

The two men were charged with counts of public violence, malicious damage to property and incitement of public violence after they organised a public demonstration about unemployment in Namibia on 21 March last year.

They were arrested after police inspector general Joseph Shikongo prohibited the planned demonstration from going ahead.

After standing trial in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in Katutura, Amushelelo and Nauyoma were found not guilty in October last year.

Nauyoma was held in police custody for about two weeks after his arrest, and was then released on bail.

Amushelelo spent nearly seven months in custody before his acquittal resulted in his release.

Amushelelo and Nauyoma are alleging that their arrest was unlawful and arbitrary and that the police did not have a reasonable suspicion that they had committed the crimes they were accused of before they were arrested.

They also claim they were detained without lawful or justifiable grounds and were then maliciously prosecuted before they were found not guilty on all charges.

Amushelelo is also alleging that during the time he was detained he “was treated as if he was a danger to society and at one point was subjected to solitary confinement for a period of one month”.

Notices stating that the three defendants would oppose Nauyoma and Amushelelo’s claim were filed at the High Court in May.

A plea in response to the men’s claim has been filed only on behalf of the PG so far.

The pleas of the minister and inspector general were supposed to be filed near the end of June, but government lawyer Frieda da Silva has applied for an extension of that deadline.

In the PG’s plea, deputy government attorney Mkhululi Khupe said according to the PG, the legality of the arrest and subsequent detention of Nauyoma and Amushelelo are matters for the inspector general and minister to deal with.

Khupe also said Amushelelo and Nauyoma’s detention after their first court appearance on 23 March last year, when a magistrate ordered that they should remain in custody, was lawful and justified.

It is further stated in the plea that the PG denies that Nauyoma and Amushelelo were maliciously prosecuted.

According to the PG, “the prosecution had reasonable and probable cause to institute criminal proceedings” against the two men and “honestly believed, on the basis of the evidence in the police docket, that the prosecution […] was justified”.

It is also stated in the PG’s plea that the fact that the prosecution ended in Amushelelo and Nauyoma both being acquitted “is not relevant to the question whether the criminal proceedings were properly instituted”.

In a joint case management report filed at the court this week, lawyer Kadhila Amoomo – who is representing Nauyoma and Amushelelo – and Da Silva informed the court they estimate the hearing of the case would take about four days.

The court was also informed that the minister and inspector general will ask the court to excuse their failure to file their pleas before the deadline of 27 June that had been set by the court.

The plaintiffs plan to file witness statements at the court in early September, with the defendants to file their witness statements by the end of September.