Lilongwe Chief Resident Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday discharged a case in which former head of information, communications and technology (ICT) at State House, Chance Chingwalungwalu, was being accused of authoring an article alleging that President Lazarus Chakwera was practicing nepotism.
In the criminal case Number 65 of 2023, the State accused Chingwalungwalu of authoring an online story which alleged that President Lazarus Chakwera was practicing nepotism in appointing and promoting Malawi Defence Force soldiers and this led to his arrest on 20 February, 2023 by the Cyber Crime Unit of Criminal Investigation Department of Malawi Police.
The law enforcers charged Chingwalungwalu, who served in the Peter Mutharika admnistration, with cyber harassment, a crime which Malawi Police claimed happened on 20 January 2023.
In interview yesterday, his lawyer Madalitso Kausi said the case has been discharged because the State failed to provide evidence since his arrest in February this year.
“The court directed that as Defence team we had to be served with disclosures by March 23 as the matter was coming for plea and hearing on the 11th of April, I can confirm that the disclosures were not served to the defence and when we went to court on 11 April the state was not present at the court without giving a reason. So we applied for a discharge as it was clear that the state had no interest in the case and was only trying to persecute my client,” added Kausi.
