South African Court Orders Former President, Zuma Back To Jail
Category: World News
South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal ruled on Monday that the decision to
release ex-president Jacob Zuma on early medical parole was “unlawful” and he
should return to prison to finish his sentence for contempt of court.
Zuma was sentenced last year to 15 months imprisonment after
ignoring a court order to testify at a government inquiry into widespread
corruption during his nine years as president, which ended in 2018 when Cyril
Ramaphosa replaced him on an anti-graft ticket.
Zuma handed himself
over to authorities in July last year and was released on medical parole two
months later.
READ: Former South African President Jacob Zuma Released From Prison
His arrest had sparked widespread looting and violence in which at least 337
people were killed.
The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the
decision to grant Zuma medical parole against the advice of the specialist
Medical Parole Advisory Board had been unlawful.
“On any
conceivable basis, the commissioner’s decision was unlawful and
unconstitutional. The high court was correct to set it aside,” the judgement
said.
READ: Ex-President Zuma Hospitalized Ahead of Graft Trial
It also rejected a decision by the department of correctional services
in October this year that Zuma’s prison sentence had finished while his appeal
was being heard.
“In other words, Mr Zuma, in law, has not
finished serving his sentence. He must return to the Estcourt Correctional
centre to do so,” the Supreme Court of Appeal judgement read.
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