News / National
Biti's unlawful arrest and detention appeal dismissed
07 Feb 2011 at 19:44hrs | Views
THE Supreme Court has thrown out an appeal by Finance Minister Tendai Biti against a High Court decision that held his arrest and detention in 2008 on treason charges lawful.
Biti was removed from remand in February 2009 on the charges in question by Harare magistrate Ms Olivia Mariga.
He, however, contested the dismissal of his urgent chamber application by Justice Samuel Kudya saying the lower court had erred in failing to rule in his favour.
Deputy Chief Justice Luke Malaba yesterday dismissed the appeal for want of prosecution.
Biti's lawyers Honey and Blanckenberg did not attend the appeal hearing yesterday and law officer Mr Edmore Nyazamba successfully applied for the appeal to be dismissed.
Mr Nyazamba submitted that the minister seemed not taking the matter seriously considering that his appeal heads of argument had taken long to be filed.
A look at the notice of hearing, showed that the date had been set as "Tuesday 7 February 2011 at 9.30am" when the 7th was a Monday.
But the court decided to throw out the appeal.
The contested judgment was delivered in June 2008.
Justice Kudya found that the State relied on a warrant of apprehension when they held Biti in police custody for more than 48 hours without taking him to court.
The High Court ruled that the 48-hour issue only applied to suspects who would have been arrested without a warrant of apprehension.
Biti was arrested on the strength of a warrant of apprehension signed by a provincial magistrate. He stayed in custody for days before being taken to court for initial remand.
His lawyers filed an urgent application at the High Court seeking an order declaring his arrest and detention unlawful.
After the dismissal of the chamber application, he was placed on remand and later freed while the appeal was still pending at the Supreme Court.
Biti was removed from remand in February 2009 on the charges in question by Harare magistrate Ms Olivia Mariga.
He, however, contested the dismissal of his urgent chamber application by Justice Samuel Kudya saying the lower court had erred in failing to rule in his favour.
Deputy Chief Justice Luke Malaba yesterday dismissed the appeal for want of prosecution.
Biti's lawyers Honey and Blanckenberg did not attend the appeal hearing yesterday and law officer Mr Edmore Nyazamba successfully applied for the appeal to be dismissed.
Mr Nyazamba submitted that the minister seemed not taking the matter seriously considering that his appeal heads of argument had taken long to be filed.
A look at the notice of hearing, showed that the date had been set as "Tuesday 7 February 2011 at 9.30am" when the 7th was a Monday.
The contested judgment was delivered in June 2008.
Justice Kudya found that the State relied on a warrant of apprehension when they held Biti in police custody for more than 48 hours without taking him to court.
The High Court ruled that the 48-hour issue only applied to suspects who would have been arrested without a warrant of apprehension.
Biti was arrested on the strength of a warrant of apprehension signed by a provincial magistrate. He stayed in custody for days before being taken to court for initial remand.
His lawyers filed an urgent application at the High Court seeking an order declaring his arrest and detention unlawful.
After the dismissal of the chamber application, he was placed on remand and later freed while the appeal was still pending at the Supreme Court.
Source - Byo24NEWS
