State objections in Lema case rejected

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Saturday, December 17, 2016
State objections in Lema case rejected


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Arusha Urban lawmaker Godbless Lema argues with prison wardens at Arusha High Court premises in the City yesterday after he allegedly was denied drinking water by the officers. PHOTO | BERTHA ISMAIL

In Summary
  • In her ruling on the state objections, she noted that they were not competent enough to be entertained by the court.
  • In the objections, state attorneys noted that the application for extension of time to appeal did not adhere to Sections 392 (a)(1)(2) of the Criminal Procedures Act (CPA) which empowers the Court to hear the applicatuion.

By Moses Mashalla and Bertha Ismail @TheCitizenTz News@tz.nationmedia.com

Arusha. The High Court here yesterday threw objections by the state which contended Arusha Urban MP Godbless Lema’s application for extension of time for appealing a decision to deny him bail. After hearing the application, Judge Dr Modesta Opiyo said she would give a ruling on Tuesday.

In her ruling on the state objections, she noted that they were not competent enough to be entertained by the court.

In the objections, state attorneys noted that the application for extension of time to appeal did not adhere to Sections 392 (a)(1)(2) of the Criminal Procedures Act (CPA) which empowers the Court to hear the applicatuion.

Atorneys Hashim Mgole, Matinus Marandu, Elizabeth Swain and Advera Swai told the court that the application did not contain the important section and instead the applicants erroneously used Section 361 of CPA. This, they argued, denies the Court powers to entertain the application. They also noted that the application lacked, in the accompanying affidavit, important particulars of the application.

One of applicant lawyers, Mr Shedrack Mfinanga, thanked the court for throwing out the objections noting they aimed at delaying the hearing of the application.

Mr Lema was arrested on November 2 in Dodoma and was sent here before he was charged with issuing insulting statement against President John Magufuli.

Since then he has remained in remand after his bail application flopped. His decision to appeal the decision to deny him bail is what resulted in the ongoing legal tussle between his lawyers and the state attorneys.

In another development, verbal arguments issued outside the court between Mr Lema and some prison wardens whereby the former accused the latter for denying him drinking water.

Ms Lema’s wife intervened arguing that what the prison wardens were doing was violation of the basic human rights.
 
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