THE two political leaders who face treason charges in the High Court have challenged the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)’s decision to include them in the ongoing trial in which former army boss, Lieutenant General Tlali Kamoli and other soldiers are accused of a battery of charges including murder and attempted murder.

Charges against leader of the Movement for Economic Change (MEC) Selibe Mochoboroane and his Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) counterpart Mothetjoa Metsing stem from events of August 30, 2014, in which Kamoli and his band of soldiers allegedly stormed the state house and the police headquarters in a bid to overthrow the then Motsoahae Thabane-led government.

In their application, Mochoboroane and Metsing show that their indictment is in breach of clause 10 read with the memorandum of understanding (MOU), which the government and the opposition parties had agreed to suspend charges against members of the latter in order to fully participate in the ongoing reforms process until finality.

The clause 10 of the MOU entered by the government and the opposition parties exempted Mochoboroane and his fellow politicians from prosecution until after the reforms have been concluded.

However, Justice Molefi Makara had earlier on shown that the court does not consider the clause in question to be an international treaty as per the complainants’ request to the court.

King’s Counsel Motiea Teele who represents the two political leaders argued that there is no need for his clients to be included in the same case against the accused soldiers.

He said there is no indication of evidence proving their involvement in whatever happened at both the state house and the PHQ, adding that the two were at the time part of government.

For his part, Advocate Lepeli Molapo who represents Kamoli and some of his co-accused contended that his clients have already spent over three years in prison, pending their prosecution.