The leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat are absent in court as their trial resumed on Monday at the Kaduna State High Court.
Daily Trust reports that security has been beefed up in the state capital blocking all the roads leading to the High Court complex which has caused huge traffic gridlock.
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The Prosecuting Counsel, Dari Bayero is expected to bring the remaining witnesses including a GOC of the Nigerian Army at the court sitting.
Daily Trust recalls that the presiding judge, Justice Gideon Kurada had on December the 11th, 2020, adjourned the case to January 25 and 26, 2021, after the prosecution counsel presented six witnesses before the court.
The prosecution counsel had initially presented two witnesses from the Nigerian Army who testified in secret before the court, while a Director from the state security services and three residents of Gyallesu in Zaria were among the four witnesses that were admitted as witnesses.
El-Zakzaky and his wife are facing trial on an eight-count charge bordering on alleged culpable homicide, unlawful assembly and disruption of the public peace among other charges, to which they both pleaded not guilty on Sept. 29, 2020.
Both of them have been in detention at the Kaduna Correctional Service facility since their return from a botched medical trip to India on the orders of the court.
Daily Trust reports that members of the IMN took to the streets to renew their calls for their release, claiming that Zeenat El-zakzaky had tested positive for COVID-19 inside the detention facility.
