Court discharges, acquits 91 IMN members

Justice Hajaratu Gwada of a Kaduna High Court on Friday discharged and acquitted 91 members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) also known as Shiites who has been in prison since 2015.

Addressing newsmen shortly after the release of the IMN members, their counsel, Barrister Maxwell Kyon said his clients were charged of culpable homicide punishable by death, criminal conspiracy and disturbance of peace.

Barrister Kyon however said the state failed to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt, hence he filed a no case submission before Justice Gwada, and the court was able to determine that the state was unable to prove their case against the defendants in the charges leveled against them.

He lamented that it was quite unfortunate for the system to hold individual in custody for no case for that long, stressing that some of them lost their children, wives, admission in tertiary institution while in custody.

He said Kaduna state must take responsibility of rehabilitating his clients for keeping them in prison for four years.

“The government should engage with us and come out with a figure as compensation for those whose four years in detention at the Correctional Centre has been wasted.

“The government made those people to be arrested and remanded in prison. We want government to take responsibility for the incarceration of these people for four years. Many lost their jobs, some lost admissions in tertiary institutions and I know of one whose wife left while he was in prison,” he said.