Trial of IMN leader, El-Zakzaky resumes today

A Kaduna State High court will today commence the trial of the embattled leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat.

The IMN leader who is currently facing trial over allegations of culpable homicide, unlawful assembly, and disruption of public peace, among other charges, was denied bail by the presiding Judge, Justice Gideon Kurada during the last sitting on November 7, 2018.

In the application for bail he filed on June 6, 2018, El Zakzaky’s lawyer, Maxwell Kyon, told the court that his client’s health had badly deteriorated as a result of injuries he sustained in 2015 and his long stay in the custody of the DSS, hence the need for him and his wife to have access to urgent medical attention.

The prosecuting counsel Dari Bayero, however, opposed the bail application, contending that the reasons advanced by El Zakzkay’s lawyer were not enough to grant him bail.

In his ruling at the time, Justice Kurada said El Zakzkay’s lawyer had failed to support his request for bail with enough medical evidence that would allow the court to exercise its discretion in his favour.

Consequently, he ordered that both of them be remanded in the custody of the Department of State Security Services (DSS) throughout the period of their trial.

The case was then adjourned to January 22, 2019, for accelerated trial.Ahead of today’s trial, El Zakzaky’s lead counsel, Femi Falana, has arrived the court.

Also, security has been beefed up at the court, while all major roads leading to the complex have been barricaded by the police.
Other security operatives have also been deployed to strategic locations and flashpoints to maintain law and order during the court sitting.

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