{"id":13355,"date":"2022-04-22T11:08:26","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T11:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/detained-soldiers-arm-twist-ldf-command"},"modified":"2022-04-22T11:21:07","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T11:21:07","slug":"detained-soldiers-arm-twist-ldf-command","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/detained-soldiers-arm-twist-ldf-command","title":{"rendered":"Detained soldiers arm-twist LDF Command"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>The detained members of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) including the former Commander have petitioned the High Court to order the LDF command to release<\/p>\n

the statements of witnesses made at the Court Martial proceedings. The charge sheet in question is alleged to contain the statements made in the mutiny case of members of the LDF in 2015.<\/p>\n

This document has been a subject of intense debate in an ongoing murder trial of former LDF Commander Lieutenant General Maaparankoe Mahao. The crown and the defence had sharp differences over the admissibility of the Court<\/p>\n

Martial witnesses statements were manifest during trial on Tuesday last week. In 2015 some members of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) including the state witness<\/p>\n

currently taking stand, Major General Poqa Motoa accused of mutiny plots against the command. It would be recalled that earlier in January the defence and prosecution were also<\/p>\n

at cross purposes over the admissibility of this document. Then, the trial judge, Justice Charles Hungwe ordered that it is the onus of the defence team to ensure the authentication of the document.<\/p>\n

Before the defence counsel, Advocate Silas Ratau could continue cross-examining the state witness Major General Motoa, he told the court that attempts to have the<\/p>\n

document certified were partially successful, saying they have communicated with the LDF command which told them that the original documents are available<\/p>\n

and can be authenticated through the order of the court. Advocate Ratau urged the court to make an order that will see the LDF Commander appearing before it to appraise the document and its certification.<\/p>\n

Seeing that the court could not accede to their plea, the detained soldiers moved an application on Thursday last week for the respondents to \u201cdiscover and make<\/p>\n

available to the applicants, statements of witnesses in the Court Martial proceedings in The King v No.18536 Brigadier Mareka and 22 others\u201d. The applicants are the accused, Retired Lieutenant General Kamoli and eight other<\/p>\n

soldiers Litekanyo Nyakane, Haleo Makara, Lekhooa Moepi, Motsamai Fako, Marasi Moleli, Mots\u2019oane Machai, Ts\u2019itso Ramoholi and Molahlehi Seitlheko. The<\/p>\n

respondents are the Commander, of LDF, the Attorney General and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) respectively. Meanwhile, Advocate Letuka Molati said he had on Monday last week had an audience with the<\/p>\n

Commander of the LDF Lieutenant General Mojalefa Letsoela who promised him that documents will be availed on Tuesday before the case continues. He said told<\/p>\n

the court that there is nothing that should warrant the military to want to go through formal processes yet those documents were given to the witness.<\/p>\n

Advocate Molati said had he known that they would encounter the problems with accessing the documents he would have prepared an application for the military to avail<\/p>\n

of the documents. The lead prosecutor Advocate Shaun Abrahams objected saying the document is \u201cinadmissible\u201d and that it is disqualified as the charges contained on the<\/p>\n

alleged mutineers were dropped. \u201cThere is no basis for the defence to lay emphasis on inadmissible documents,\u201d he charged saying that should the defence lawyers over an application order, the<\/p>\n

prosecution is ready to oppose such a move. Advocate Ratau argued that the lead counsel seems not to \u201cunderstand\u201d his duties which are to allow every information to be brought before the court.<\/p>\n

He advanced the reason that the accused were never acquitted at the Court Martial. \u201cThe court has powers to order the Commander to appear before [it]\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWhat prejudice is there if they [documents] appear before the court? There won\u2019t be any but there would be a fair trial. \u201d Advocate Molati took swipe at the crown\u2019s attitude saying \u201csomething is shocking, at<\/p>\n

first the crown objected on the basis that they were not authenticated. Now a new leaf sprouts out of a branch. Law is not a hide and seek. \u201d He also told the court that they are also going to request the production of the<\/p>\n

Phumaphi Commission proceedings. This Commission had recommended that people who are suspected to have a hand in criminal activities that brought instability and caused the death of Lieutenant Mahao to be tried before courts<\/p>\n

of law resulting in the ongoing \u201chigh profile\u201d cases where soldiers and members of the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) stand accused of many crimes<\/p>\n

including murder. Meanwhile, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) had indicated that it will avail those proceedings once the ongoing national<\/p>\n

reforms have been completed. \u201cThe court will know will know that the accused are denied access to the documents,\u201d he submitted his arguments. Also, the defence lawyer, Advocate Napo Mafaesa said the state witness retired<\/p>\n

Colonel Thato Phaila was asked if someone would come before the court saying there was no mutiny, the crown objected and instructed him not to answer such a<\/p>\n

question. \u201cThe issue of admissibility is irrelevant and cannot be inhibited by the dishonest conduct of the crown,\u201d he fumed. \u201cIt begs the question if the crown was sincere when they said Phumaphi Commission<\/p>\n

records were not there,\u201d he aimed at the prosecution. Advocate Kabelo Letuka also argued that the crown was \u201cvery clear\u201d that the controversial document does not exist saying \u201ctoday they exist and<\/p>\n

inadmissible\u201d. He further aimed at the crown saying: \u201cWhat the crown is doing is not doing justice to the accused and the community. It is shocking that in a democratic<\/p>\n

country [the crown] has the guts to say the documents which should not be availed to assist the court to arrive at justice. That is a standard; it is even known by the first-year students.<\/p>\n

\u201d Advocate Abrahams was resolute that they had always disputted their admissibility. The<\/p>\n

defence will move the application and the crown will oppose. The crown team is made up of Advocate Abrahams, Advocate Motene Rafoneke and Advocate Rathebe.<\/p>\n

Advocate Machaduka Wilson Mukhawana is watching the brief for Mahao\u2019s family. The matter will be heard online and the ruling expected to be delivered on May16.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. The detained members of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) including the former Commander have petitioned the High Court to order the LDF command to release the statements of witnesses made at the Court Martial proceedings. The charge sheet in question is alleged to contain the statements made in the mutiny case of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":13354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12,16],"tags":[233,246,245],"class_list":["post-13355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nDetained soldiers arm-twist LDF Command - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The detained members of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) including the former Commander have petitioned the High Court to ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/detained-soldiers-arm-twist-ldf-command\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Detained soldiers arm-twist LDF Command\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The detained members of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) including the former Commander have petitioned the High Court to ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/detained-soldiers-arm-twist-ldf-command\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-22T11:08:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-22T11:21:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/04\/img-62628f88e6240.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"478\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/detained-soldiers-arm-twist-ldf-command#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/detained-soldiers-arm-twist-ldf-command\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Detained soldiers arm-twist LDF Command\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-22T11:08:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-22T11:21:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/detained-soldiers-arm-twist-ldf-command\"},\"wordCount\":1007,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/detained-soldiers-arm-twist-ldf-command#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/04\/img-62628f88e6240.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/detained-soldiers-arm-twist-ldf-command#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/detained-soldiers-arm-twist-ldf-command\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/detained-soldiers-arm-twist-ldf-command\",\"name\":\"Detained soldiers arm-twist LDF Command - 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