A judgement on the courtroom facilities that should be made available to the accused charged in the Fishrot fraud, corruption and racketeering trial is scheduled to be delivered by the end of January.
Judge Shafimana Ueitele postponed the delivery of his judgement on an application about the courtroom facilities in the Fishrot trial to 30 January after hearing oral arguments in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.
Ueitele reserved his judgement after he was addressed by former attorney general and minister of justice Sacky Shanghala, on behalf of himself and two of his co-accused, James Hatuikulipi and Pius Mwatelulo, and government lawyer Ndamonao Ilovu, representing the executive director of the Office of the Judiciary, the registrar of the High Court, the minister of justice and the prosecutor general.
Shanghala, Hatuikulipi and Mwatelulo are asking the court to issue an interdict that would stop the prosecutor general from continuing to prosecute them in the courtroom of the High Court at Windhoek Correctional Facility where proceedings in their criminal case have been taking place since September last year.
Shanghala, Hatuikulipi and Mwatelulo are also asking the court to declare that the requirements for a fair trial cannot be met if their trial takes place in the courtroom where the dock for accused persons was previously enclosed by a metal grille that they describe as a "burglar bar cage".
They further want the court to direct the Office of the Judiciary to remove the metal grille and to provide tables, chairs with backrests, Wi-Fi internet access, a lectern and electric points that they can use for their laptop computers in the courtroom on the grounds of Windhoek Correctional Facility.
The three applicants are also asking the court to declare that the taking of photographs and video recordings showing them in the grille-enclosed dock is a violation of their rights to dignity and a fair trial.
The metal grille that enclosed the dock was removed shortly after Shanghala and his co-applicants filed their application about the courtroom facilities three months ago.
Shanghala, Hatuikulipi and Mwatelulo are alleging the grille that enclosed the dock and separated it from the rest of the courtroom amounted to a violation of their dignity and their right to a fair trial and specifically the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
In a sworn statement filed at the court in September, Shanghala claimed the dock enclosure depicted him as a dangerous person.
"I am treated degradingly and humiliated as I am viewed as a dangerous criminal," Shanghala stated.He also said his right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty was being violated when he was "paraded into and out of court as a dangerous criminal and from that cage like a monkey in a zoo".
During the hearing yesterday, Shanghala argued that the courtroom at the prison premises does not meet the minimum international standards set for court facilities.
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In the dock, he and his co-accused have to sit on benches without backrests, no Wi-Fi internet access and electricity points for their laptops are available, they do not have space for the large volume of documents the state has disclosed to them and they do not have tables on which they can place their documents while in court, Shanghala said.
This, he argued, affects their ability to prepare for their trial and as a result, infringes on their right to have a fair trial.
Ilovu said the court's registrar has had a meeting with the accused and has agreed to make facilities requested by them available at the prison court building.
The accused persons' right to a fair trial is not being infringed by the court facilities, Ilovu argued.
