Chief Resident Magistrate Patrick Chirwa has dismissed the request by Shepherd and Mary Bushiri to have their extradtion case dismissed and to have the matter referred to the Chief Justice for certification as a Constitutional issue
He says whilst the Sadc Protocol cannot be used in Malawi, South Africa was designated under a bilateral act in 1974 as a “processable” destination for extradition. As such, the matter will not be referred to the Constitutional Act again.
The matter will now proceed, based on the bilateral agreement between the two countries.
The magistrate says the matter must now move to the issue of witnesses availing themselves to the Malawi courts.
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FROM PROPHET SHEPHERD BUSHIRI
In our ongoing case, the Magistrate Court on Wednesday agreed with our lawyers that the SADC Protocol, which the South African government used in their extradition request to Malawi, is not part of the laws of Malawi; therefore, it will not be used as the basis of the extradition proceedings.
The Magistrate, however, was of the view that since he has decided that the SADC protocol on extradition will not be used in the extradition proceedings, he will only rely on the 1972 Extradition Agreement between Malawi and South Africa.
Our lawyers have told the Magistrate that we will be applying for a review of his decision to proceed with the hearing of the matter because the extradition request itself stated that the extradition agreement was being used subject to the protocol.
It is expected that the review process will be filed this week by our legal team in the High Court.
Thank you all for always praying for us. It is not far, the truth will come out!