An appeal against their sentences by five of the men sent to prison after they were found guilty in the second Caprivi high treason trial last year is on its way to the Supreme Court.
This is after acting judge Petrus Unengu granted the five men leave to appeal against their sentences in the High Court at Windhoek Correctional Facility last week.
Unengu concluded it was possible that the Supreme Court may consider the sentences imposed on the five men - Progress Munuma, Shine Samulandela, Manuel Makendano, Alex Mushakwa and Hoster Ntombo - at the end of their trial in October last year "to be a bit harsh" when compared to sentences imposed by the Supreme Court in an appeal judgement relating to the first Caprivi high treason trial.
Unengu also found that an application for leave to appeal by the two other men convicted and sentenced in the second Caprivi high treason trial, Frederick Ntambilwa and John Tembwe, was defective, because neither of them made an affidavit in which they asked the court to excuse a failure by them to comply with the court rules in respect of their request to be allowed to appeal.
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As a result, Unengu struck their application from the court roll.
Unengu found the seven men guilty on charges of high treason, the unauthorised importation of weapons into Namibia, and the supply and possession of weapons, unlawful possession of ammunition, and contraventions of Namibia's immigration legislation in a judgement delivered near the end of July last year.
Unengu found that the seven men took part in the activities of a separatist organisation in the Zambezi region - then known as the Caprivi region - from September 1998 to December 2003, and that they were involved in plans to take up arms against the government in the region.
The seven men were sentenced to prison terms ranging from five to 16 years at the end of their trial.
Unengu sentenced Munuma (65), described as a leader of a separatist organisation that operated in the former Caprivi region between 1998 and the end of 2003, to 26 years' imprisonment, of which 10 years were suspended for a period of five years.
Samulandela (57), Mushakwa (63), Ntambilwa (63), Ntombo (62) and Tembwe (58), described as supporters or sympathisers of the secessionist movement in the former Caprivi region, were each sentenced to a prison term of 20 years, of which eight years were suspended for a period of five years.
Makendano, who was reputed to be 78 years old at the time of the sentencing, was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment, of which five years were suspended for a period of five years.
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The seven men went through a first trial in the Windhoek High Court between 2005 and 2007.
They were sentenced to prison terms of either 32 or 30 years at the end of that trial, and went on to serve six years of those sentences.
After they appealed to the Supreme Court, their convictions were set aside in July 2013 and their case was sent back to the High Court for a retrial, which started before Unengu at the end of June 2014.
Munuma, Samulandela, Makendano, Mushakwa and Ntombo are represented by defence lawyer Ilse Agenbach.
Defence lawyer Jorge Neves represented Ntambilwa and Tembwe during their trial before Unengu.
The state was represented by deputy prosecutor general Lourens Campher.
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