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Zuma Bid to Shutter Corruption Prosecutor Dismissed


FILE — Former South African President Jacob Zuma, sits in the High Court in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, Wednesday May 26, 2021, at the start of his corruption trial.
FILE — Former South African President Jacob Zuma, sits in the High Court in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, Wednesday May 26, 2021, at the start of his corruption trial.

South Africa's former president Jacob Zuma has suffered another setback in his attempts to remove the lead prosecutor from his arms deal corruption trial, as a top judge dismissed his latest petition in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).

Former South African President Jacob Zuma's effort to affect his ongoing corruption trial by removing lead prosecutor Billy Downer failed Friday.

The nation's Supreme Court of Appeal tossed out Zuma's "application," the local term for "motion," was dismissed by SCA Justice Mandisa Maya, who presides over that judicial body.

Zuma, who has pleaded not guilty to charges including corruption, money laundering and racketeering in the long-running case over the $2 billion arms deal in the 1990s, continues to claim that Downer is biased against him, and because of that, any trial he conducts is unfair.

The spokesman of the Jacob Zuma Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zuma's corruption trial has been repeatedly delayed by the filing of motions and appeals.

The former president has one more chance to gain a turnover: observers expect his legal team to petition next South Africa's highest judicial body, its Constitutional Court

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