The main opposition leader in Seychelles, Patrick Herminie has been left off the hook of the witchcraft charges he was facing after prosecutors dropped the case against him.
He had always denied the accusations and speaking outside court on Thursday described them as “malicious action”.
The police had explained that the case related to the discovery of two bodies exhumed from a cemetery on the island of Mahé.
Mr Herminie plans to run in the 2025 presidential election under the banner of the United Seychelles Party.
He called the case an “abuse of power” by President Wavel Ramkalawan, he was quoted as saying.
“We do not have the right to arrest someone and put them in prison for nothing at all,” he said.
Africa Today News, New York understands that the president is yet to comment on the case.
Mr Herminie served as the Speaker of Seychelles’ parliament between 2007 and 2016.
The prosecutor told a magistrates’ court in the capital, Victoria, that he was withdrawing all charges against him.
No reasons were given for the decision.
Last October, Mr Herminie and six of his Seychellois co-accused were freed on bail.
They were charged with the possession of items intended for use in witchcraft, conspiracy to perform witchcraft and procuring services related to witchcraft, according to local media reports at the time.
Africa Today News, New York reports that prosecutors originally alleged that the opposition leader’s name appeared in a WhatsApp message between a Seychellois national and a Tanzanian suspect, who was arrested last September at the main international airport.
The Tanzanian was found with items allegedly related to witchcraft, including stones, black wooden artefacts, small bottles of brownish liquid, a collection of powders and documents with strange language and “demonic and satanic” symbols, they said.
The documents were similar to those found in Catholic churches and other places that had been vandalised in Mahé, Seychelles’ largest island, prosecutors further alleged.
Along with Mr Herminie four others who were part of the original case are no longer facing charges.
A new case has been opened against the Tanzanian and two others, the Seychelles News Agency reports.
Mr Herminie told local media last year that more than 40 police officers had raided his party’s offices in Victoria.