Manuel Chang’s lawyers appeal to Pretoria High Court

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Manuel Chang’s lawyers appeal to Pretoria High Court

10:32 CAT | 11 Jan 2019

in file CoM

Lawyers for Mozambique’s former finance minister Manuel Chang on Thursday filed an appeal in the Pretoria High Court against three rulings by the Kempton Park District Court in Johannesburg on behalf of the South African Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Chang’s defence team disagrees with the validation of the detention of Manuel Chang, the alleged refusal of the Prosecutor’s Office to furnish more detailed information on the charges and the amount of bail demanded under category five of South African criminal law.

The defence wants the bail to be dealt with under ordinary law and even so, maintains that Chang did not commit any crime in South African territory and therefore wants a review of the three decisions by a higher court.

Manuel Chang’s extradition to the United States, which has issued an international arrest warrant for him, has not yet been formally discussed in the courtroom.

The South African court has not yet received all the documentation on the extradition of Manuel Chang from the United States of America, but the South African Public Prosecutor’s Office still has time to do so.

The Prosecutor’s Office said, however, that Chang would be tried in the United States.

Lawyers hired by Chang’s family are preparing to oppose extradition.

The police adviser at the Mozambican Embassy in Pretoria, Zacarias Cossa, said the diplomatic mission was unaware of Chang’s lawyers’ thinking and refrained from commenting on Chang’s possible extradition.

The Frelimo MP remains incarcerated in an individual cell in the Moderbee jail in Benoni, east of Johannesburg.

The Mozambican authorities continue to maintain that they were not officially informed of the existence of an arrest warrant and the arrest of Manuel Chang, who was on his way to Dubai on vacation.

Source: Voa Portugues