The Supreme Court last week dismissed an appeal by former member of parliament Geoffrey Mwilima to be released from prison on medical grounds.
Mwilima (68) appealed against a High Court decision not to order the minister of home affairs, immigration, safety and security to authorise his release from custody on medical grounds.
He wanted the Supreme Court to find the doctor who examined him to be in contempt of court over the order directing the doctor to determine if Mwilima had a dangerous illness, and recommend his release on medical grounds.
The medical doctor is stationed at Windhoek Correctional Facility, where Mwilima is serving his sentence.
In his appeal, Mwilima said the doctor was bound to recommend his release once he determined that he suffered from dangerous diseases, diabetes mellitus and kidney disease.
However, Supreme Court chief justice Peter Shivute alongside judges Dave Smuts and Theo Frank agreed that the court is not in a good position, as the medical doctor, to recommend Mwilima’s release.
The judges said the recommendation by the medical officer is a pre-condition for the minister to exercise the power to order Mwilima’s release.
“The court could not make an order of substitution, because the minister had not decided whether or not to authorise the appellant’s release, rightly so, because he was not furnished with a recommendation by the medical officer as required by law,” said the judges.
Mwilima has been in prison since he was arrested in 1999 alongside a handful of people in the Caprivi region (now Zambezi region).
He, along with others, was arrested and charged for taking part in a conspiracy aimed at overthrowing the Namibian government in the former Caprivi region between September 1998 and December 2003.
In 2015, after a lengthy trial, Mwilima was convicted on charges of high treason, murder, and attempted murder. He was sentenced to serve 18 years in prison, but his sentence was reduced to 15 years on appeal to the Supreme Court in 2021.
-mamakali@nepc.com.na