Pastor Omotoso re-arrested on immigration violation charges

Recently-acquitted Nigerian televangelist pastor Timothy Omotoso has been re-arrested.

Police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola said Omotoso was arrested on Saturday morning and the charges relate to the violation of the Immigration Act.

"Members of Department of Home Affairs and police arrested Omotoso. He will surely appear in court on Monday and everybody will know what charges he is facing, but it is immigration-related matters," said Masemola.

Masemola said the department will elaborate more on the charges in due course.

Omotoso and his co-accused Lusanda Sulani and Zukiswa Sitho were arrested in April 2017 and were facing charges including rape, sexual assault and human trafficking allegedly committed in the Eastern Cape where Omotoso led a church in Gqeberha.

After a lengthy trial, the Gqeberha high court acquitted the accused last month.

In her ruling, the high court judge Irma Schoeman said the state had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

"In my view the explanations of the accused are improbable, and I don’t subjectively believe them.”

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