Court dismisses Kabwila, Chakhwantha, Msungama ‘Whatsapp treason’ case

The High Court in Blantyre has dismissed the treason case involving Malawi Congress Party (MCP) top officials.

Jessie Kabwila, Ulemu Msungama and Peter Chakhwantha, were arrested in February last year on allegations that there were exchanging WhatsApp messages meant to demean the leadership of President Peter Mutharika.

Since the case, the state has been playing hide and seek on the matter by just extending bail to the three, the development forced Kabwila her co-accused to seek judicial review on the matter earlier this year.

Three through their lawyer Gustave Kaliwo accused the police of being used by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to silence opponents.

In his ruling, Justice Healy Potani asked the state to refrain from making arrests before completing investigations.

He also ordered the state to pay all the legal costs incurred by the applicants in the case.