The Lilongwe Chief Resident Magistrate Court has on Wednesday, April 28 thrown away applications by lawyers representing Enlightened Christians Gathering (ECG) Church Leader Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary, to have their extradition case dismissed for lack of legal basis.
Another request to have the matter referred to the Chief Justice has equally been dismissed, saying the matter can be handled by the Magistrate’s court.
The development means that hearing of the extradition processes is now expected to commence.
One of the lawyers representing the couple, Wapona Kita, applied that the case needed to be dismissed as per South African government’s request, arguing that the request is based on SADC Protocol which is not domesticated in Malawi.
Presiding over the case, Chief resident Magistrate Patrick Chirwa ruled that the case cannot be dismissed because there is no basis for doing so.
Chirwa further said the case is processable under the laws of Malawi hence the application for referral to the Chief Justice has also been dismissed while arguing that South Africa was designated under a bilateral act of 1974 as a “processable” destination for extradition.
This means that the extradition case will now continue with South African witnesses expected to avail themselves to court to testify.
The matter has since been adjourned to June 4.
