Former Vice President Cassim Chilumpha freed in treason case

The High Court in Blantyre has discharged a treason case involving former Vice President Dr. Cassim Chilumpha, who was accused of conspiring to topple the then president, the late Bingu wa Mutharika.

Dr. Chilumpha asked the court to discharge the case, which started in 2006, on the grounds that it had taken too long to be completed.

Chilumpha was arrested alongside former politician and businessperson Yusuf Matumula in May 2006 on allegations of plotting to assassinate then president Bingu wa Mutharika using hired assassins from South Africa.

In his application, the former vice-president represented by lawyers from Hawkins Attorneys prayed for his discharge as an accused or for the action to be dismissed for want of prosecution in the criminal cause Number 13 of 2006.

Chilumpha is accused of the offences of treason contrary to Section 38 of the Penal Code and conspiracy to murder contrary to Section 227 of the Penal Code.

The application was premised on Section 42(2)(f) of the Constitution which, he argued guarantees an accused the right to fair trial.

The development means Chilumpha is now a free man.

Chilumpha and the late Mutharika fell out in 2005 after the former president left United Democratic Front (UDF), a party that sponsored him into power in 2004, to form his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).