Malawi court releases 8 prisoners on death row: ‘Kanfantayeni justice’
The High Court of Malawi has released from jail eight prisoners on death row after judges commenced rehearing their cases in February this year, according to local press report.
Judiciary spokesperson Mlenga Mvula is quoted in the local daily that the eight were freed after the High Court reheard their homicide cases between February 11 and March 23 2015.
:“I can confirm that the eight convicts were immediately set free after resentencing, right now they have been reunited with their communities.”
In 2007 the High Court of Malawi abolished the mandatory death penalty. In what become known as the Kafanteyeni ruling the mandatory death penalty was deemed by the bench as unconstitutional as it amounts to an arbitrary deprivation of life, denies an accused the right to a fair trial and the right to be free from inhuman and degrading treatment.
Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) is running a ‘Kafantayeni Project’ which aims at giving a second chance to 170 prisoners on mandatory death sentence to be reheard.
Resentencing hearings give prisoners the opportunity to present mitigating evidence before the court so that a judge may be persuaded to hand down a sentence other than death.
The project is also being implemented by Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Legal Aid Bureau and Paralegal Advisory Service International (PASI).
Lawyer in Ministry fo Justice, Dziko Ndianthu Malunda said the State “will have to reconstruct files to ensure that no one is denied justice simply because of the missing file.”
There are 192 homicide cases pending resentencing out of which 22 have already been reheard. All the cases are being reheard at High Court Zomba District Registry
The Tilitonse funded project is also being implemented by Center for Human Rights Education, Advice and Assistance, Chancellor College Faculty of Law, Cornell Law School and Malawi Prison Service.
MHRC Executive Secretary Grace Malera said the cases will be heard on mitigation and aggravating factors.
The abolition of the mandatory death penalty in Kafantayeni and the fact that Malawi has not actually carried out an execution since 1992 puts the country in good stead to abolish the death penalty. Countries like Malawi that have made the transition to democracy increasingly see abolition of the death penalty as a necessary step to signal their commitment to human rights.
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The gateway for wealthy murderers. Pa death row patsala okhaokha osauka. Hahahahahaha.
You are just creating mob justice
Mob justice must provail!! Ufulu shud see no boundary, wophedwayo ndiye mukuganiza kuti analibe ufulu wokhala ndi moyo? An eye for an aye! Tit for tat fear game, fokolo!!!
Ndipo nsawaone alipinyapinya ndiwazimitsa we nid shalia law here zachamba eti
Mukulephera kugamula mlandu wa Alikaka chinemba wakupha akungoyenda town stupid!
Chokani apa, wakumpha aphedwe, mbuzi inu.
What about the victim’s rights?
Njoka Mu Udzu
Kd kma akambilana ndi ananfedwa? Tikuziwa kuti lamulo ndichilungamo ndizindu ziwili zosiyana kma tiyeni tilemekeze olilao
A Law is passed by parliament and abolished by the high court? Where is the separation of powers here? What the court should have done is to declare it incompartible with the the supreme law of the land basi osati abolishing. And who said when you remove the death penalty you set the killers free? I thought the sentences would be commuted to life in prison? Or has the high court abolished that one as well. Poti chilichonse chonena mzungutu timatengeka nacho! Chonsecho in the USA, they are sentencing people to death and killing them by lethal injection or gassing.… Read more »