BY HENRY KIJIMWANA MHANGO
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Malawi’s Supreme Court of Appeal has rejected bail pending appeal application by notorious leader of the Southern Africa’s most prolific wildlife trafficking syndicate Lin Yunhua, a Chinese national serving a fourteen years jail sentence in Malawi.
The head of the Lin-Zhang gang which had been operating in Malawi for a decade was finally arrested in 2019, and jailed in 2021 after being found in possession of horns for five rhinos, money laundering and other crimes.
However, Lin who has been able to defeat the country’s prison system and enjoy ordinary life and business transactions both inside and out of prison, wants to be freed by challenging the sentence even out of time through a court application made through the Supreme court of Appeal.
The convict who was arrested along with some vulnerable young Malawians recruited in the syndicate applied to the Supreme Court for leave to appeal against his sentence, permission to appeal out of time , and Bail pending appeal.
His first application for sentence review was thrown out by the High court in Lilongwe on grounds that it was out of time, which means it was made after the one year window for appealing had expired .
However, Justice Lovemore Chikopa, the Supreme Court of Appeal Judge filled in favor of the convict’s two applications but rejected him bail pending application.
In his ruling, Chikopa agreed with the state’s fears that the applicant is a flight risk such that he would frustrate the final disposal of the anticipated appeal while on bail.
“The state presented an affidavit sworn in by a police officer to the effect that the applicant has while lawfully committed to prison had been enjoying irregular time out . He is to that extent a flight risk.
“If he is able to get out and in of prison as he wishes while serving a sentence , there is nothing to stop him getting out of Malawi and frustrating the final disposal of the anticipated application while on bail,” Chikopa said.