The High Court in Lilongwe has adjourned to January 21, 2022, a case involving 13 police officers accused of murdering Buleya Lule, who was prime suspect in the abduction and murder of a 14-year-old boy with albinism from Dedza District.

On Monday, the State paraded four witnesses of which all are police officers working at the Lilongwe Police Station.

Testifying before the court, one of the State witnesses told High Court Judge Chifundo Kachale that the deceased was in good health at a time he was taken into custody at Lilongwe Police Station.

“What I would state is that our strategy is that the time the deceased was taken into Lilongwe Police custody was in good condition.

“We will just be praying for our clients to be acquitted by the Court, all we are saying is that our clients cannot be held responsible for the death of the deceased, that’s what we are trying to put across to the court,” argued  Lugano Mwabutwa, one of the defence lawyers.

Lule, 44, died on February 21, 2019 in police custody, a day after appearing before the Lilongwe Magistrate Court, a development which resulted into an independent autopsy by the Association of Persons with Albinism in Malawi (APAM).

The arrest of the law enforcers followed a directive from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) which directed that all police officers implicated in the death of Lule be prosecuted.