American murder accused

American murder accused, Kevan Townsend and ex-magistrate Jaco Kennedy, detained at the Windhoek Correctional facility while on trial in the High Court, have filed a complaint alleging violations of their human rights by police and prison officials.

Townsend is one of two American nationals accused of murdering, Andre Heckmair, a Namibian man, more than 10 years ago while Kennedy, a former magistrate, is standing trial in the High court on counts of rape and kidnapping.

In a case filed two weeks ago in the Windhoek High Court, the two men allege that prison authorities are breaching their fundamental right to free expression by denying them access to or possession of “semi-nude images.”

The Namibian reported that on their list of demands, the court should order the prison officials “to cease and desist from removing semi-nude images from the plaintiffs’ private printed material”.

In addition to suing the Ombudsman, the two men are suing the minister of home affairs, immigration, safety and security who are in charge of the police and prisons, as well as the inspector general of the Namibian Correctional Service, the officer in charge of the Windhoek Correctional Facility.

They are asking the court to order the Ombudsman to pay N$ 100,000 to each of them, as well as the minister of safety and security and the police’s inspector general to pay a total of N$ 950 000 to each of them for various violations of their constitutional rights, claiming that the police are transporting them in police vans that lack safety features required by traffic laws and regulations.

Source: @thenamibian