The Law Society of England &
Wales is calling on the Government of Malawi to uphold its own
Constitution and Bill of Rights after news emerged of an attack on
Malawian lawyer and former Attorney-General Ralph
Kasambara.
Law Society President John
Wotton has expressed his concern after it was claimed that
Kasambara remained in detention despite bail being approved. The
Law Society is also concerned that Kasambara's lawyers, and the
Magistrate who granted bail have been arrested on spurious
corruption charges.
Kasambara was arrested after
interviews with him were published in leading Malawian newspapers,
the Weekend Nation and the Sunday Times, which were highly critical
of the government and called for the resignation and impeachment of
Malawi's President, Bingu wa Mutharika.
Law Society President John
Wotton said: “The Malawian government must ensure that court
rulings in Kasambara's case are properly respected, that bail is
acknowledged and that he is released as a matter of urgency.
Malawi, a democracy, with a constitution and a bill of rights, must
adhere to the basic legal principles in those tenets of justice,
innocent until proven guilty being one of them.
“Magistrate Innocent Nebi,
who granted bail, must have his judicial independence and authority
respected, without inappropriate or unwarranted interference. We
call on the Government to ensure this is respected and we will
monitor the situation closely.
For the justice system to
function, it is a key principle that there should be no
interference with judges and lawyers in the performance of their
legitimate duties.
“The Government must
remember that the world is watching and that any breaches of
recognised international rights won't go
unnoticed.”
Reports emerging from Malawi say
that the prison authorities claim to have specific orders from the
police not to release Kasambara unless the police sign off on the
release order and are themselves present at the prison, in
contravention of established law. The police say that he must go
back to Court and make a new bail application.
Attacks on lawyers and human
rights activists, working within the law, are a matter of deep
concern to the Society. The attack against Mr Kasambara follows
widespread reports of harassment and intimidation of human rights
defenders in Malawi.
Ralph Kasambara undertakes
public interest cases in Malawi. Most recently he has been involved
in supporting judiciary staff in their demands for the agreed
revision of their employment terms and conditions to be
implemented.
In the past his law firm, Ralph
and Arnold Associates, was actively involved in academic freedom
cases following the summoning of University of Malawi lecturer by
the Inspector General of police and the standoff that ensured
thereafter between university lecturers and the Malawi government.
He has also been actively involved in court cases relating to the
recent public demonstrations in Malawi.
Ends
Contact: Steve Rudaini, The Law
Society
+44 (0)20 7316
5624