About 120 murder suspects currently on remand at Maula Prison, are in two weeks’ time expected to appear before a camp court facilitated by Paralegal Advisory Service Institute (PASI).
Some of these suspects have been on remand for over 6 years without having their cases heard in the Court while some were denied bail and they continued to stay in prison with no chance of being taken to court.
Alfred Munika regional team leader for (PASI) responsible for Central Region has told MIJ Online that they are planning to have 120 Homicide remandees to appear before Judges of the High Court where they would also have a chance to apply for bail.
“We are planning to have four Judges, each Judge will have 30 cases to be considered for bail. So in two weeks the Judges will be here at Maula Prison to attend to 120 bail applications for Homicide remandees.” said Munika.
A study conducted by PASI in November 2021 which also included tracing of Police dockets for Homicide remandees, reveled that a number of case files for the suspects have been lost and that the remandees are languishing in Prisons unknown to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Police or Courts.
According to Munika, it is sad that most of these Homicide remandees continue to stay in the Prison without being given an opportunity to be heard or tried in the Court of law.
On his part, Inspector Tanazio Lipenga remand in-charge at Maula Prison said currently the Prison has 1,155 suspects on remand and 304 of those suspects are murder suspects.
“We are hoping that the Camp court will help decongest the Prison,” Said Lipenga.
A Camp Court, is an exercise where Judges or Magistrates hear cases and give determinations right inside Prison. State Advocates and Legal Aid Bureau Advocates are fully involved in Camp Court exercises and in order to have useful Camp Courts, PASI paralegals work hand in hand with the Directorate of Public Prosecutions in tracing case dockets which are still with Police.
Since December 2021, Homicide Camp Courts have been held in the following prisons; Chichiri (Blantyre), Mulanje, Thyolo, Zomba, Ntcheu, Mangochi, Domasi, Mikuyu,
Mzimba, Mzuzu, Karonga, Nkhatabay, Kasungu, Dedza, Nkhotakota and Ntchisi. In total, 373 homicide remandees have been released through this initiative.