29 Jul 2020

Director in the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Advocate Stephen Tiroyakgosi says there are instances where conflicting laws of nations make it difficult for suspected criminals to be prosecuted where they are being sought.

He said in an interview that suspects in criminal acts cross borders to invade justice and acknowledged that through mutual arrangement between neighbouring nations, fugitives were extradited for prosecution.

Advocate Tiroyakgosi said the DPP was the central prosecuting authority in Botswana in collaboration with other law enforcing entities such as Botswana Police Service.

He observed that there were instances where investigations would lead into foreign lands, therefore calling for the DPP to engage in formal processes in order to get evidence admissible in courts. 

“We follow certain formalities where we engage with other lawful and investigating authorities in foreign jurisdictions,” he said.

Advocate Tiroyakgosi said the DPP would engage their counterparts in other countries through the Central Authority for Mutual Legal Assistance as well as the Central Authority for Extradition of Fugitives. 

“We exchange requests to enable investigating agencies to get evidence across borders and obtain fugitives by way of extradition. 

Nonetheless, there are instances where the DPP experiences challenges in its efforts to extradite fugitives,” he said.

He said after committing crimes, some suspected criminals would cross the border either into or out of Botswana in an effort to escape the law, therefore countries would help each other in tracing such fugitives. 

Advocate Tiroyakgosi acknowledged that Botswana had a working relationship with countries such as Namibia, South Africa and Zambia in terms of extradition processes, but challenges only arose when the request involved a suspect in a murder case.

“One of the challenges is that we encounter difficulties when we request South Africa and Namibia to extradite murder suspects. 

In terms of their laws, they cannot process such requests, as the suspects are likely to face capital punishment. 

Similarly, Zambia does not extradite its citizens to Botswana when they are wanted for criminal acts,” he said. 

Save for those difficult points, advocate Tiroyakgosi said extradition requests between the neighbouring countries were done accordingly.

He said Zambia law does not have a provision for extradition. 

“Since Zambia law does not allow for extradition of their nationals who are alleged in criminal acts to Botswana, we are also obliged by our law not to extradite our nationals who are sought for extradition for criminals acts committed in Zambia,” he said.

As a result of such a challenge, Advocate Tiroyakgosi said the concerned nations were working on putting measures in place to allow for prosecution of suspected criminals where they are located in instances where they were obstacles forbidding extradition.

As for other countries, Advocate Tiroyakgosi said extradition processes for suspected criminals of all sorts were being executed without any difficulties.

In terms of an extradition treaty between Botswana and Namibia, Advocate Tiroyakgosi said, “There was a provision that says in the event the Namibian authorities were unable to extradite for whatever reason, then they should prosecute the suspected criminal. 

The same principle is also embedded in the extradition treaty between Botswana and Zimbabwe. 

We are trying to negotiate the same arrangement with South Africa and Zambia,” he said.

Advocate Tiroyakgosi said modality would involve how to bring witnesses to the land where a suspected criminal act was not committed and also on how to impose sentence. 

“We must agree on regulations on how to prosecute across borders, even though offences have not taken place in the country where the suspect will be tried. 

Offences are largely prosecuted where they took place, except in special circumstances,” he said. Ends