Dar es Salaam – In a dramatic anticlimax to a week of legal setbacks, the prosecution in the treason trial of CHADEMA national chairperson Tundu Lissu effectively admitted its case was unprepared to proceed on Friday, successfully seeking an adjournment after failing to produce any witnesses.
The move, which Mr Lissu lambasted as a tactic to keep him imprisoned through the upcoming election, resulted in the case being postponed for over a week, pushing proceedings past the October 29 presidential poll.
As the court session opened, Senior State Attorney Renatus Mkude stood to make an unexpected request. He informed the three-judge bench that the prosecution’s remaining witnesses were from “upcountry” and were unavailable today. Citing this, he formally prayed for an adjournment.
This request came just a day after the prosecution’s forensic case had collapsed, with the court rejecting both the video evidence and the expert report meant to authenticate it.
In a powerful and impassioned response, Tundu Lissu vehemently opposed the adjournment, arguing that the state’s case was legally extinct.
READ MORE: Tundu Lissu Deconstructs State’s Case as Treason Trial Nears Precipice
“They have kicked the ball out of play,” Lissu declared. “Their deliberations from yesterday have borne no fruit. This case has defeated them. It has truly crumbled, just as I said yesterday that it was finished, and that I am perhaps only being held because of the election.”
He argued that with the central video evidence thrown out, the state had no case to pursue, as all remaining witnesses—including police and alleged ‘bodaboda’ riders who were supposedly incited—could only testify about what they claimed to have seen online, for which there was now no proof.
“This case is over, Your Honours,” Lissu stated. “These words from the State Attorneys are entirely empty and just meant to waste our time. This application is meant to prolong this case so I remain in prison until the General Election passes.”
Seizing the moment, Lissu made a direct plea for the court to release him on bail. He cited Section 302(3) of the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA), arguing that the court had the discretion to grant bail and that he was not a flight risk.
“Today is my 202nd day in prison, six and a half months,” he told the judges. “For what we have seen and heard, what case is there here if not the government’s nonsense and fear of those who oppose them?”
READ MORE: Treason Trial Teeters as Court Rejects Key Video Evidence Against Tundu Lissu
In their rebuttal, the state attorneys, Renatus Mkude and Nassoro Katuga, insisted the adjournment was a procedural necessity due to absent witnesses. They fiercely opposed bail, reminding the court that treason is an unbailable offence under Section 159 of the CPA and accusing Lissu of seeking “sympathy.”
After a brief deliberation, the court sided with the prosecution. Judge Ndunguru announced that the case was adjourned until Monday, November 3, 2025, at 9:00 AM. The judges agreed with the state that the absence of witnesses was a valid reason for a delay and upheld that the serious nature of the charge precluded the granting of bail.
The adjournment ensures that Tundu Lissu will remain in remand prison throughout the election on October 29, a fact he explicitly framed as the central objective of the state’s legal strategy. The trial now enters an uncertain hiatus, with its future viability deeply in question.
