Since his arrest in March Siwela has maintained he is innocent of the treason charges he is facing. His co-accused, John Gazi and Charles Thomas, were released on $2,000 bail each, however Siwela was denied bail. On Tuesday Siwela appeared in court to appeal against the bail refusal, but Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku said that he must produce a written affidavit before he can rule on his bail appeal.
Siwela was represented by Lucas Nkomo, Sindiso Mazibisa and Matshobana Ncube of the Abammeli Human Rights Lawyers Network. The Chief Justice raised the issue of an affidavit being deposed by Paul Siwela himself, where he has to give assurances that if admitted to bail he will not commit similar offences to the one he is charged with, Nkomo said, to that end the Chief Justice postponed the matter indefinitely to allow us to go and record the affidavit. Nkomo said the affidavit is likely to be submitted by Thursday.