WINDHOEK: A suspect in a high treason trial in which over 100 people from the Caprivi Region are being tried for an alleged attempt to cede the region from the rest of Namibia, has been discharged.
Rodwell Kasika Mukwenda was yesterday acquitted of all charges against him by High Court Judge Elton Hoff as there was no prima facie evidence presented before court during the trial linking him to the alleged failed attempt to cede the Caprivi Region from the rest of Namibia in 1999.
Mukwenda was discharged and set free following an urgent application for discharge by his State-appointed defence lawyer Victor Kachaka yesterday, shortly after Public Prosecutor Taswald July had closed the State’s case.
The application for discharge was lodged by the defence lawyer (Kachaka) as per the provisions of Section 175 of the Namibian Criminal Procedures Act as there was no evidence on record showing that Mukwenda was part of the group of people that participated in the alleged failed attempt to cede the Caprivi Region from the rest of the country.
Mukwenda has been in police custody at the Windhoek Central Prison’s holding cells for about 13 years, awaiting the finalisation of the case.