Police yesterday formally released activist Bon Kalindo from detention after spending a night in the cooler at Nkhunga Police Unit in Dwangwa, Nkhotakota District despite the court nullifying his warrant of arrest.

Kalindo’s lawyer Stanley Chirwa in an interview yesterday said his client was released in the afternoon and was expected to return to Lilongwe last evening.

He said: “We are happy that the rule of law is finally being respected and that the State authorities are no longer undermining the authority of the court.”

However, Chirwa indicated that he was proceeding to commence contempt of court proceedings against “certain individuals” who allegedly opted to undermine the authority of the court when circumstances necessitated them to free his client.

Kalindo was seen in a viral video clip yesterday indicating that he was being taken to Lilongwe. He was clad in a black T-shirt with the Malawi national flag emblazoned on the chest.

Kalindo announcing
his departure

The Lilongwe Chief Resident Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday ordered the immediate release of Kalindo, but police had already transferred him to Dwangwa, a distance of about 235 kilometres.

Chirwa also dismissed claims that his client jumped bail, saying the same has been established not to be true and there is evidence to that effect.

He said: “We are of the opinion that his arrest was just a desperate attempt to disrupt the demonstrations after the earlier

 attempt to stop them through the Lilongwe district commissioner was stopped by an order of the High Court.”

Meanwhile, Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) in a statement issued yesterday called for the immediate release of Kalindo and faulted the police for the continued detention despite the court order.

Reads the statement: “We further urge the Chakwera administration to guarantee the fundamental rights of peaceful assembly and free speech to everyone without discrimination, and call for an end to a crackdown on peaceful protest.”

In a separate interview, Leader of Opposition in Parliament Kondwani Nankhumwa described the acts by the police as retrogressive and a threat to the country’s democracy.

He said: “What happened on Wednesday is a threat to the country ’s hard-earned democracy and I condemn it in strongest terms. I’m failing to believe that in Malawi, we now have a government that does not want its citizens to exercise their constitutional rights.”

Writing on his Facebook Page, United Democratic Front (UDF) former president Atupele Muluzi said: “His continued detention for exercising his constitutional and democratic rights must be condemned by all. Malawi is not a police State.”

Lilongwe chief resident magistrate Madalitso Chimwaza on Wednesday ordered the suspension of a warrant of arrest for Kalindo issued on Monday.

The order also directed that the parties should attend an inter-partes hearing on the matter on September 8 2023.

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