Caprivi trial postponed to June

Over 100 men accused of treason for their alleged role in an attack by separatist rebels in Namibia's northeastern Caprivi region pleaded not guilty on Monday when they appeared in court for the first time in four-and-a-half years.

The 107 appeared in the Grootfontein high court, 500 km north of Windhoek. They are part of a group of 120 men arrested for taking part in the attack led by the Caprivi Liberation Army (CLA) in August 1999. The matter has dragged on with a series of postponements over the years.

Defence counsel Patrick Kauta said each of the accused faced 278 charges, including treason, attempted murder, possession of arms and malicious damage to property.

The case was postponed to 1 June, as the court wanted to wait for the outcome of a separate application brought by 13 of the accused in the Windhoek high court last week.

The 13 accused, including the alleged commander of the CLA, John Samboma, were released at the end of February on an order by Judge Elton Hoff at the high court in Grootfontein, who ruled that his court did not have the jurisdiction to try the men because the circumstances under which they had been held were "irregular".

However, they were re-arrested and charged with treason. "The arguments in that court application will only be heard from Friday this week, so the Grootfontein high court wanted to await the outcome of that application, so the entire treason trial has been postponed to June," explained Kauta.