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| National |
| High Court orders government to pay Sulaimana K14m |
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by
Pilirani Semu-Banda, 17 November 2004
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08:56:07
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The High Court in Blantyre on Tuesday ordered government to pay about K13.9 ($128,703) million to Sudi Sulaimana and Colvin Kaumira for false imprisonment, defamation, malicious prosecution, lost property and interference with the constitutional rights of two.
Government arrested the two in 2001 on allegations of treason.
The court’s assistant registrar Michael Tembo said in his ruling, the notice of hearing of the assessment of costs in the matter was “duly served” on the Attorney General but that he never challenged it.
Tembo said both Sulaimana and Kaumira were incarcerated in very bad prison conditions where, among other things, they had to answer calls of nature in the presence of fellow inmates without any privacy for close to a year.
The court, therefore, awarded K1,059,600 to each of the two as damages for malicious prosecution, K2 million each for the risk of and actual loss of their liberty and K500,000 each for defamation.
“This court agrees that the charge of treason is a very serious one and in the present case the charge as preferred against the plaintiff was attended with a lot of publicity. No wonder that the plaintiffs have suffered social ostracism,” said Tembo.
He also ordered that Kaumira be awarded K180,000 subject to tax for loss of employment.
For Sulaimana, who was arrested while on holiday from the United Kingdom where he working, the court awarded him 16,800 Pounds (K3.36 million) for the loss of his monthly earning of 1,400 Pounds (K280,000), another sum of 11,100 Pounds (K2.2 million) for the loss of his two vehicles and 5,000 Pounds (K1 million) for the loss of household items.
But the court refused to compensate Sulaimana for a scholarship he alleged to have lost following his arrest because he did not present proof.
However Attorney General Ralph Kasambara indicated last evening that government will be challenging the order, saying the court thought that the assessment of damages was not challenged because there was a mix-up of documentation and miscommunication between government and the court.
“We’re challenging the matter. There’s already an officer working on that and we’re not giving up on the matter,” said Kasambara.
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