The Constitutional Court of South Africa rules that the medical leave of former President Jacob Zuma was illegal

July 14 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Constitutional Court of South Africa has ruled that the medical leave granted to former President Jacob Zuma so that he could be released from prison just two months after being convicted of contempt was illegal, thus opening the door for the former president to have to return to prison to serve his sentence.

The court has rejected the arguments of the head of the South African Prison Service, Arthur Fraser -considered a person close to the former president-, to justify the measure and has ruled out the body’s appeal against a ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeals repealing the permit doctor.

Fraser ordered Zuma’s release for medical reasons in September 2021, despite the fact that the prison’s own medical commission considered that the former president was physically well and that he could serve his sentence for contempt after refusing to cooperate in an investigation into cases of corruption during his tenure.

In response to the Constitutional Court ruling, the South African Prison Service has said it “is looking into” the verdict and “seeking legal advice”. “We will comment in due course,” he added, as reported by the South African news portal News24.

The decision of the Constitutional Court also comes in the week in which the second anniversary of the violent riots unleashed after the arrest of Zuma, which resulted in more than 350 deaths, according to the conclusions of an official investigation opened as a result of the incidents. .

Zuma has been the first democratically elected president in South Africa to be sentenced to prison since the African National Congress (ANC) – a party he led between 2007 and 2017, when he was removed in an internal council by its vice president and current president, Cyril Ramaphosa. — seized power in 1994.