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A Kaduna High Court has ordered the immediate release of the leader of the proscribed Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports El-Zakzaky and Zeenat were discharged and acquitted by the Kaduna High Court on Wednesday.
The Kaduna State Government had charged them both with an eight-count charge.
The charge borders on alleged culpable homicide, unlawful assembly and disruption of public peace, among other charges.
El-Zakzaky and wife, were brought to court on Wednesday by officials of the Nigerian Correctional service amidst tight security, pleaded not guilty to the charge, filling a no-case submission.
In a ruling that lasted over eight hours, the presiding Judge, Justice Gideon Kurada upheld the no-case submission filed by El-Zakzaky and his wife.
The Judge in his ruling held that the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case against the defendants, who have been standing trial for four years.
The Nigerian Shiites leader and wife were thereafter discharged and acquitted with orders for their immediate release.
Their lead counsel and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Femi Falana, had on July 1, argued that all the 15 witnesses presented by the prosecution counsel were unable to establish any connection between the alleged crimes and El-Zakzaky and his wife.
Falana then prayed the court to rule in favour of his clients and dismiss the charges levelled against them as there was no criminal case that has been established against them so far by the Kaduna State Government.