State spent N$60m on Caprivi trial
Government has already forked out over N$60 million in legal aid for the Caprivi treason trial which finally ended last year after a marathon 16 years.
This was revealed by Attorney-General Sacky Shanghala this week during a discussion on human rights as part the country’s foreign-policy review conference in Windhoek.
According to Shanghala, a quarter of a billion dollars in “hard cash” were spent on just the Caprivi treason trial.
“N$100 million at the Ministry of Justice which is non-legal, N$60 million on top of that is the legal fees. At the Ministry of Safety and Security, we had spent maybe another N$120 million on feeding. I do not want to talk about medical aid and direct cash payments,” he said.
Fiercely defending Namibia’s reputation on human rights, Shanghala emphasised that the very fact that the trial took long is because Namibia respects its citizens’ rights.
“Nobody is asking why it took forever. There had been no fewer than 30 applications for trials within trials made by the accused persons themselves,” he pointed out.
He also took a swipe at local non-governmental organisations and human rights activists for being extraordinarily vocal on the Caprivi treason trial but who “fail to speak out against the killings in the United Nations”.
“Our respect for human rights has become our Achilles heel.
We are being accused . . . and who leads the onslaught? Human rights bodies and lawyers who should know better, who should be speaking differently. Not one of the Caprivi trial suspects have ever brought an application that took too long,” he said.
He noted that there are claims about isolated long prison terms. Government indicted 132 people for allegedly participating in the Caprivi conflict on the side of the Caprivi Liberation Army between 1992 and 2002.
The group were charged with 275 criminal charges including high treason, murder and sedition.
The trial was the longest and largest in the history of Namibia.
JEMIMA BEUKES
This was revealed by Attorney-General Sacky Shanghala this week during a discussion on human rights as part the country’s foreign-policy review conference in Windhoek.
According to Shanghala, a quarter of a billion dollars in “hard cash” were spent on just the Caprivi treason trial.
“N$100 million at the Ministry of Justice which is non-legal, N$60 million on top of that is the legal fees. At the Ministry of Safety and Security, we had spent maybe another N$120 million on feeding. I do not want to talk about medical aid and direct cash payments,” he said.
Fiercely defending Namibia’s reputation on human rights, Shanghala emphasised that the very fact that the trial took long is because Namibia respects its citizens’ rights.
“Nobody is asking why it took forever. There had been no fewer than 30 applications for trials within trials made by the accused persons themselves,” he pointed out.
He also took a swipe at local non-governmental organisations and human rights activists for being extraordinarily vocal on the Caprivi treason trial but who “fail to speak out against the killings in the United Nations”.
“Our respect for human rights has become our Achilles heel.
We are being accused . . . and who leads the onslaught? Human rights bodies and lawyers who should know better, who should be speaking differently. Not one of the Caprivi trial suspects have ever brought an application that took too long,” he said.
He noted that there are claims about isolated long prison terms. Government indicted 132 people for allegedly participating in the Caprivi conflict on the side of the Caprivi Liberation Army between 1992 and 2002.
The group were charged with 275 criminal charges including high treason, murder and sedition.
The trial was the longest and largest in the history of Namibia.
JEMIMA BEUKES
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