Leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his wife have been freed by a Kaduna State High Court,
In an eight-hour ruling, Justice Gideon Kurada on Wednesday upheld the no-case submission filed by El-Zakzaky and his wife.
The Kaduna State Government had levelled an alleged culpable homicide, unlawful assembly and disruption of public peace against them.
The judge in his ruling held that the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case against the defendants.
El-Zakzaky and his wife Zeenat have been standing trial for four years on an eight-count charge.
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The defendants arrived in court this morning by officials of the Nigerian Correctional service amid tight security.
Their lead counsel and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, had on July 1, argued that all the 15 witnesses presented by the prosecution counsel were unable to establish any connection between the alleged crimes and Sheikh El-Zakzaky and his wife.
Falana then prayed the court to rule in favour of his clients and dismiss the charges levelled against them as there was no criminal case that has been established against them so far by the Kaduna State Government.
Counsel to the defendants, Marshal Abubakar who represented the lead counsel in the suit, Femi Falana, SAN, told reporters shortly after the trial ended in Kaduna.
“The trial of Sheik El-Zakzaky and his wife Zeenat has come to end as the court found them not guilty of the alleged crime, filed against them by the Kaduna State Government.
” The court found that the charges that were filed in 2018 pursuant to the Penal law enacted by the State Government in 2017 over an alleged offence committed in 2015.
”The court presided by Justice Gideon Kurada, ruled that the charge was not suppose to be filed in the first place, as the government cannot arraign someone for a said crime that was not an offence at the time.
”The court ruled that the charge was incompetent as the court agreed that El-Zakzaky and his wife had committed no offence.
”The court also holds that the event of Dec.12 2015 and Dec. 15, 2015 was not an offence and the court was emphatic that none of the events in Dec. 12, 2015 can be attributed to the defendants for an offence.
”The court, thereby, discharges and acquits the defendants, as there should have been no charge in the first place.
”No party asked for cost of fine, “Abubakar told reporters.
Mr Dari Bayero, the lead prosecution team, however, declined comment on the ruling as he drove out of the court premises.
The Kaduna State Government had charged El-Zakzaky and Zeenat with eight counts, bordering on alleged culpable homicide, unlawful assembly and disruption of public peace, among other charges.
The defendants had pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that on Sept. 29, 2021 the court dismissed a no-case submission filed El-Zakzaky and his wife Zeenat.
In the motion, El-Zakzaky asked the court to dismiss the allegations against him and his wife for lack of evidence.
But in his ruling, Justice Kurada, dismissed the no-case submission, saying that it was premature to rule on the application to quash the charges against the defendants in view of the clear provisions of the Kaduna State Administration of Criminal Justice.
