The Standard reports that Mpofu and Chimombe are facing charges of duping the state
of millions under the presidential goat scheme.
Chimombe and Mpofu are accusing the state and the courts of
violating their rights saying they had been denied bail on several occasions
despite it being a right.
The duo said this through their lawyers while submitting
evidence before High Court Judge Justice Pisirayi Kwenda on their application
for referral to the Constitutional Court.
Chimombe and Mpofu are also accusing the judge of
unilaterally granting an application for the matter to be livestreamed without
any input or submissions by their lawyers.
They charged that the decision to allow the proceedings to
be broadcast live or livestreamed on various media platforms was arrived at
without their participation and consent and that of the state.
“On the third day of the hearing, the learned judge it’s
not clear whether in the presence of assessors or not indicated that the court
had commenced late because he was entertaining in chambers an application to
have the trial proceedings livestreamed,” the duo submitted.
“The learned judge advised that he had granted the
application for the media to livestream the proceedings in chambers.
“This alleged application was entertained in the absence of
the accused persons and to the exclusion of the state. It is further not clear
who the applicants were. It is not clear who were the parties to that
application as the accused persons were not cited nor served with a copy of
such application.”
The duo want the Constitutional Court to determine whether
their continued detention violated their rights as accused persons.
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