THE KINGDOM OF LESOTHO COMBINED SECOND TO EIGHTH PERIODIC REPORT UNDER THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS AND INITIAL REPORT UNDER THE PROTOCOL TO THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA (CIV/T/550/2011) [2013] LSHC 32 Matete v Monyane and Damages for Unlawful The High Court awarded damages to Others (CIV/T/579/2006) detention the tune of M51,000.00. [2011] LSHC 98 Challenges with implementation of the right to liberty 60. One of the major challenges which Lesotho is facing is that despite continuous trainings, the police officers still have the culture of arresting suspects in order to carry out their investigations and do not investigate and arrest when ready to take the suspects to court. This has led to a number of cases in which the police have had to apply for further detention of suspects who are at times released without being charged. A state which could be avoided if proper investigations were carried out before the arrest. 61. The other challenge is that backlog of cases in the courts of law result in many people awaiting trial for prolonged periods which sometimes go beyond the period for which they would be detained if convicted. Progress and measures proposed to address the challenges 62. In order to address the challenge of backlog of criminal cases, over and above overseeing effective implementation of the Speedy Court Trials Act, the government of Lesotho has resorted to Restorative justice in terms of which suspects and victims of crime are reconciled and the suspect is ordered to make up for his wrong-doing through other means such as compensating the victim and other forms of punishment other than imprisonment. This is mostly done in minor non-violent offences. 30