{"id":63161,"date":"2020-02-25T09:42:25","date_gmt":"2020-02-25T01:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=63161"},"modified":"2020-02-25T09:42:26","modified_gmt":"2020-02-25T01:42:26","slug":"lesotho-pm-thomas-thabane-seeks-immunity-over-murder-of-ex-wife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=63161","title":{"rendered":"Lesotho: PM Thomas Thabane seeks immunity over murder of ex-wife"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.brudirect.com\/images\/news\/20200225_africa.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:center\">Prime Minister Thomas Thabane and his wife Maesaiah appeared in court together on Monday<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u00a0MASERU, Feb 25 (NNN-AGENCIES)\u00a0&#8212;<\/strong>Lawyers for Lesotho&#8217;s prime minister have told a court that he cannot be charged over the murder of his estranged wife because his position makes him immune from prosecution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PM Thomas Thabane&#8217;s then-wife, Lipolelo Thabane, was shot dead in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The case has now been referred to the High Court. His current wife has already been charged with the murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> Thabane would be the first African leader to be charged with domestic murder while in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Monday&#8217;s hearing, defence lawyer Qhalehang Letsika said: &#8220;My client cannot be prosecuted while in office but he is not above the law.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The presiding magistrate referred the case to the High Court, which will be sitting as the Constitutional Court when it hears the case with a panel of at least three judges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thabane, 80, missed a court appearance last week because he went to South Africa for medical treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He rejected reports that he had fled the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lipolelo was gunned down at close range on the side of a dirt road while returning to her home in a village near the capital, Maseru.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She was involved in bitter divorce proceedings with Thabane when she was killed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maesaiah and Thabane got married in a Roman Catholic ceremony two months after his inauguration as Prime Minister. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maesaiah was charged with Lipolelo&#8217;s murder on Feb 5, and is out on bail of about $67.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She has also been charged with the attempted murder of a family friend Thato Sibolla, who was with Lipolelo at the time of the shooting and is expected to be a key witness in the murder case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maesaiah has not yet been asked to enter a plea. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prime Minister Thomas Thabane and his wife Maesaiah appeared in court together on Monday \u00a0MASERU, Feb 25 (NNN-AGENCIES)\u00a0&#8212;Lawyers for Lesotho&#8217;s prime minister have told a court that he cannot be charged over the murder of his estranged wife because his position makes him immune from prosecution. PM Thomas Thabane&#8217;s then-wife, Lipolelo Thabane, was shot dead [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63161"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63161\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}