Joshua Mbele’s fate Tuesday
Senior Resident Magistrate Wanangwa Nyirenda will next Tuesday rule on the application by the Malawi Police Service on whether to revoke bail for social media influencer Joshua Chisa Mbele.
During a court appearance Thursday, Mbele’s lawyer Gibert Khonyongwa asked the court to dismiss the application.
“The affidavits that the state has brought in this court with screenshots are not admissible in a court of law hence asking for dismissal of the application,” Khonyongwa said.
State Prosecutor Levison Mangani objected to the argument, claiming that they consolidated their evidence through Facebook posts of the accused which qualifies as a violation of his bail conditions.
“We extracted what was on Chisa Mbele’s Facebook page. We printed documents and what he wrote can be accessed by anyone, hence it’s our plea for the court to revoke the bail,” Mangani said.
Mbele was arrested in January for sharing a document on social media and was later granted bail.
As part of the conditions for his release, Mbele was told not to express himself in a manner that would infringe on other people’s rights.
