High Court of Malawi - 2025 July

3 judgments

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3 judgments
Citation
Judgment date
July 2025
Bail pending appeal denied: no exceptional circumstances, appeal unlikely to succeed, substantial sentence remains unserved.
Criminal procedure — Bail pending appeal (s.359) — Discretionary relief only in exceptional, special or unusual circumstances — Factors include likelihood of success and risk of serving substantive sentence — Likelihood alone rarely sufficient.
28 July 2025
Criminal defamation provision struck down as an unconstitutional, disproportionate limit on freedom of expression.
Constitutional law — Freedom of expression — Criminal defamation — Section 200 Penal Code — Overbreadth, vagueness and chilling effect — Section 44 limitation test — Civil remedies as less restrictive means — Attorney General’s neutral role in constitutional referrals.
17 July 2025
Whether criminal defamation (section 200) unjustifiably limits freedom of expression and must be struck down.
Criminal defamation – Freedom of expression (section 35) – Limitation test (section 44(1),(2)) – Proportionality and necessity – Civil remedies as less restrictive means – Chilling effect – Decriminalisation consistent with regional and international jurisprudence – Attorney General’s impartial role in constitutional referrals.
17 July 2025