Two judges of the High Court set down 14 August 2023 as the date for a ruling on the bail appeal of Michael Saddam Amushelelo.
Windhoek High Court Judge Naomi Shivute and Acting Judge Philanda Christiaan reserved their judgement last week.
The ruling is against the refusal of the Katutura Magistrate’s Court to release the forex-trader-turned-politician on bail after his latest arrest on Independence Day this year.
Amushelelo was arrested together with Affirmative Repositioning movement activist Dimbulukeni Nauyoma and Popular Democratic Movement lawmaker Inna Hengari during a protest march against youth unemployment.
Hengari and Nauyoma are facing charges of public violence, malicious damage to property, while Amushelelo and Nauyoma alone face a charge of violating a court order. They were previously released on bail on similar charges relating to the notorious China Town shopping complex incident.
One of the conditions of bail
then was that they are not to be charged with public violence contraventions.
During the bail appeal hearing recently, Kadhila Amoomo, the pro bono lawyer for Amushelelo, described the latest arrest as an embarrassment, and clearly a desperate attempt to silence the accused, who is quite vocal about government’s failures.
His client’s continuous incarceration shows the lengths to which “people in power” will descend, just to keep dissenting voices quiet. Furthermore Amoomo submitted that the ostensible reason for the refusal of bail to Amushelelo is because he has pending cases, and there is a possibility that he will re-offend once released on bail.
In fact, the only reason his client was arrested in the first place was that “of his attitude towards the police,
and not because there was a prima facie case against him”.
He thus asked that Amushelelo be released on bail of N$2 000, with the condition that he reports himself to the investigating officer three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.