No Bail Pending Appeal-locked up and locked away
Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba wrote;
So it appears, the Judiciary has clear new instructions! no more bail pending appeal, matters end at Magistrate Court and the convicts must serve the sentences.
Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba, Nixon Chilangwa,Wanziya Kampyongo,Ronald Chitotela,Kalumba Chifumbe, Davy Kaniki, Chabu Chitotela, Kunda Chitotela, Francis Muchemwa, and Bowman Lusambo have all been denied bail pending appeal by the magistrate court and now by the High Court!
Denying bail pending appeal has become part of the extensive lawfare, (the use and abuse of legal actions to cause problems or destroy opponents) which the government of President Hakainde Hichilema is using alongside arrests, long detention and harrasment against perceived opponents.
Under the Constitution and under Rule of Law, if an accused person or the DPP is dissatisfied with a Court’s decision, they have a constitional right to appeal and the accused or the DPP are requesting that a judgment be reversed ir overturned.
Where the appeal is lodged depends on which Court made the decision. If the Subordinate Court makes the decision, the accused will file an appeal with the High Court. If the decision was made by the High Court, the appeal will be lodged in the Court of Appeal, and if the decision was made by the Court of Appeal, the appeal will be lodged in the Supreme Court. Since the Supreme Court is the final and highest court, any decision made by it is binding.
As pronounced by the Supreme Court in a plethora of authorities here some of the instances when bail pending appeal may be granted are as follows:
● When there are exceptional circumstances disclosed by the applicant.
●Where it appears, prima facie, that the appeal is likely to succeed.
●When there is a risk that the sentence or a substantial part of it will be served by the time the appeal is heard.
● Where an applicant applying for bail raises
health related issues, there exists the obvious tension between the health concern of the applicant and the potential risk of flight
and therefore a reasonable balance needs to be struck between the two factors.
The Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops has appealed to the Chief Justice, Dr. Mumba Malila to stop soms of his courts that seem to have lent,submitted or yielded themselves out to the whims of the clear interference of the Executive and allow Justice to reign in Zambia.