Banda 'unfit' for murder trial

Tuesday 30 May 1995 00:02 BST

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Banda 'unfit' for murder trial

Blantyre - Malawi's ex-president, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, in his mid- 90s, is unfit to stand trial for the murder of four political opponents in 1983 because he has a shrunken brain, is almost deaf and would not understand the proceedings, doctors said.

South African psychiatrist Merryll Vorster, one of three doctors to examine him under a court order, said they all agreed Dr Banda was too old and unfit to appear. Spectators in court were convulsed with laughter when a tape of an interview with the doctors was played, with Dr Banda apparently forgetting most of the past and denying having ever murdered anyone. "Murder someone? Who did I murder?" he said in response to questions by Dr Vorster. Reute

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