Renowned Zambian human rights and HIV activist, Paul Kasonkomona, was acquitted today by the Lusaka Magistrate’s Court on charges relating to comments he made on television in support of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.
The ruling provides a major boost to freedom of expression in the country said the Southern Africa Litigation Centre in a statement.
“This is a great victory for freedom of expression in Zambia,” said Anneke Meerkotter from the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC), which supported the case. “If speech is stifled through the application of outdated criminal laws, Zambians will find themselves unable to openly discuss and debate some issues of real importance to them.”
In April 2013, Kasonkomona was arrested after he appeared on a Muvi TV programme where he spoke about the need to recognise the rights of vulnerable groups such as LGBT individuals and sex workers in order to comprehensively address the HIV pandemic. He was subsequently charged with the ‘idle and disorderly’ offence of soliciting in a public place for immoral purposes, in terms of section 178(g) of the Penal Code.It was alleged that Kasonkomona, 38 of Chululu Garden Township on April 7, 2013 at Lusaka being a person in a public place namely Muvi TV studios on a programme called “The Assignment” did solicit for moral purposes for homosexuality rights to be respected in Zambia.
Mr.Kasokomona denied soliciting for moral support for homosexual rights to be respected in Zambia amidst claims that he has been unduly and harshly detained by the State.Mr Kasonkomona also sued Attorney General Mumba Malila claiming for punitive damages for false imprisonment by the Zambia Police service.
In a statement of claim filed before the court by his lawyer he stated that he was on second line of treatment of HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis but his medication had been disturbed because the medicine was in the hands of the Police
Kasonkomona was represented by Sunday Nkonde SC from SBN Legal Practitioners.
So u mean they actually touched his life line. AT second line when the man enters third line is as good as dead because its not common in Zambia.
Nothing wrong with gays.
We need gays in Zambia and I think they should legalise marriages as well.
Christians should neither be pro-gay nor anti-gay, because although God hates sin, He still loves the sinners.
“Pro-gay” against “anti-gay” is misleading, as is missing out the wider Biblical picture and here on LT. Sex is so good and strong and powerful (just read the Song of Solomon): it’s what puts life into a marriage, and lives into the world. But used outside of marriage it ultimately perpetuates confusion, difficulty and hurt, even though, naturally enough, something in it seems so ‘right’ for a while.
Some people are born using the left hand predominantly and some are born gays, the quicker we accept this the better.
Thanks
Yippee! Viva Gay rights!!!
These are the last days!!Watchout in the name of freedom of expression, we (People) are commiting sins.Remember Sodom and Gomorah……!
Awesome ! This is a great victory for human rights in Zambia.I just find it weird how some people always want to impose their lifestyle and religious beliefs on others.I mean if someone prefers to dip into a place where only waste from the body must pass through then that’s his business.Let people like Kasonkomona live their life and us who prefers it inside women live our own.Life is all about choices, hence it is barbaric to admonish someone just because you don’t agree with their lifestyle and a lifestyle which doesn’t harm or endanger the lives of others.Give this dude a break !
Firstly, I agree with you.
Secondly, can you also extend your tolerance to political issues without using offensive comments?
I am not sure if really thought about what you said concerning not harming or endangering others. I will give you a benefit of doubt. Wait until that guy asaults your son/nephew/brother and gives him AIDS then you will know that it affects others.
@142…i have never used any offensive statement in my blogging history(unless of course you are referring to some bloggers here using my blogging name to post trash,just because they don`t agree with me politically).I outgrew(insults) that a long time ago@Zaulosi…no i beg to differ.Gays rarely assault or abuse others.I have lived in Europe for almost a decade now and during this time i have worked and gone to school with a few gay people and i can tell you that they are one of the nicest and humble people.They only difference from us is ofcouse their choice of the glory hole.
Iwe Zaulosi assault is not a preserve of gay people! It is a CRIMINAL act. Are you saying an assault on your daughter/niece/sister by some straight fool is ok for you? Are you sick or what?
I have no problem with gay people as long as they do there acts quietly without them wanting to get us invloved with their so called “Rights”.
At the rate we are moving with this human rights issue, peadophiles will come and and start demanding their rights. If you saying anything against them, they will say that is how they are born. It is a life style. I am not sure if you no a group of women who are pushing for their rights to be topless in open areas. You can checck them on gotopless.com. This world needs rules. Everyone will want their rights pa last everyone will be doing what to do
@Zaulosi…you have a point there but i don`t think it is a good idea to compare pedophiles with gays because in the case of Pedophiles there is always a victim(An innocent child) ,but homosexuality involves two adults who consent to do something, hence there is no chance of one individual taking advantage of another persons vulnerability or in other words homosexuality is a victimless crime.Going topless happens even in our lovely eastern province.You should attend ncwala ceremony of the Ngoni one of these days and enjoy a site of topless women.In a nutshell we shouldn`t compare oranges with lemons.
@Saulosi, I have gay friends. I studied at UNZA and had two classmates who were and are still gay. I mingled with them, chilled with them. I have no problems with them. The problem I have is the push for recognition. We know they have dip their corks into sewage outlets of other men. Why do they want the church to start marrying them? Why can’t they continue enjoying canal knowledge with fellow the way they have always done.
What shocks me the most (if not pissing me off) is the push for them to be allow to adopt kids. What nonsense?!!!
@Zaulosi…We are on the same boat there when it comes to them adopting kids.That is where i also personally draw the line.Preferring to dip into the waste disposal system is one thing ,but adopting a child ? Hell no ! I believe that every child should have an opportunity of growing up under heterosexual parents and not two moms or two Dads. Another father(A gay partner) can never make up for a mother`s place. The thing is that children are conceived when a man deposits his seed into a woman ,so by virtue of a person choosing to be gay,that person also basically gives up the ability to create a life. Gay parents also have a higher chance chance of raising their kids to be gay.I would rather not see any child being raised in such a home.
I hate gay people. I love my dogs more because they are higher than gays. Gays are lower than pigs and dogs. Gays are not even human. So why should they enjoy human rights?
Some people prefer to be ostriches hiding their heads in the sand while exposing their nether regions! Well done Kasonkomona, Mubanga and Nkonde.
U call pipo doing each other human rights??????!!!! Pipo will in the end be given rights to do animals! Its the f@#ken same! GOD help us! Viva museveni!
yaba..ba DPP ba pa Zed..failure..
Viva!!!!! Some sanity at least! How possible is it to promote homosexuality? U are either straight, gay or both! Takwaba ukupatikisha unless ulefwaya!
And to those religious cunts, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed becoz of the combination of sin! Surely there must have been adulteres, thieves, murderers, liars, plunderers in that place! And why do u religious *****s conveniently forget to mention Lot’s two daughters who had sex with their own father? Why didn’t God kill them too? My point? U don’t know the mind of God!
The Bible is against homosexuality because it’s against nature to insert your dick in the anus for sexual gratification. Whether your “consenting partner’ is cool with you soiling your dick in his waste hole, still that doesn’t make it an acceptable practice.
I have never heard of thius ACTIVIST, i ALSO TRIED TO GOOGLE SCHOLAR CHECK, NO RESULTS NOT EVEN A SINGLE PAPER, IS HE EDUCATED PROBABLY WITH MASTERS OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT?
-”Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” Martin Luther King Jr.
Human rights for all human beings!
Article 1. Of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Mr. Kasonkomona, we salute your work.
So this calls for celebration?pa zed namukaba mulelaka na lesa zo ona!lesa alanda ati no gay and lesbians imwe mwasuminisha!ikali anyway congratulations ba kasonkomona and please do as you wish to do
the man knows that he is dead hence he wants to pull more people to go with him, personally i’ll live the life Christ Jesus lived not coping from anyone.
in whatever way you want to make it sound gay is not right bane animals do not do it and we are suppose to be more superior than them
you donot need to be areligious p[erson to do the right thing you just need to be human
NO GAY RIGHTS even if you won the case
kabila