Two men of Chienge district in Luapula Province were last week on Friday June 24th 2022, sentenced to 24 months imprisonment with hard labour for defamation of the President. The duo were facing one count of defamation of the president contrary to section 69 of the Penal Code Chapter 87 of the Law.
Before Resident Magistrate Luckson Mbewe, was Danny Kapambwe 28 and Justine Chimpinde 19 of Chienge district who pleaded guilty to one count of defamation of the President when the matter came up for plea.
Facts are that on June 14, 2022 around 14:00 hours ,George Mulenga Chanda of Kasoma Village in Change saw and watched a video on Tik tok were the accused persons were seen publishing insults by word of mouth whose insults were directed to the Republican President Hakainde Hichilema.
The following day around 14:00 hours Chanda reported the matter to Chienge Police and acting on the information, Detective Inspector Chilembo disseminated the information to Chipungu border post to search for accused persons.
On the same day the duo were apprehended by the Zambia Police and Zambia Army Officers based at Chipungu border post.
The accused persons were then surrendered to Chienge Police where the arresting officer recorded a warning and caution statement.
Kapambwe admitted using his phone to record the same video in which Chimpinde featured.
He then led the arresting officer where the phone was.
On the same day, the duo were jointly arrested and charged for defamation of the President.
When asked by the Resident Magistrate if they understood the statement of facts, the duo responded affirmatively adding that they did not wish to add or subtract anything as the facts were true and correct.
In mitigation, the duo pleaded with the court to exercise leniency with them as they had learnt lessons from their deeds.
“We are asking for forgiveness and leniency from this court because our families will suffer if we are given custodial sentence. We admit we were stupid and did not know what we were doing,” they pleaded.
In passing sentence, Resident Magistrate Mbewe said he took note that the accused are first offenders who readily admitted the charge without wasting the courts time but insulting the Republican President or any other person is an offence and perpetrators need to be punished to deter would-be offenders.
“I take note that the trend of insulting the Head of State with impunity is growing in this country even if it is an ordinary person. The trend of showing insults at an elderly person is not only against our culture but also an offence under our Penal Code,” he said
Magistrate Mbewe sentenced both the accused to 24 months imprisonment with hard labour with effect from June 15, 2022.
He informed them of their right to appeal.
Just create more room in jails at the rate we are going we will soon run out of space.
In just 9 months HH has imprisoned more citizens for defamation than Chiluba, Mwanawasa, Sata, Lungu and Banda combined! Where is our weak opposition and Human Rights NGOs?
The high cost of living is what’s driving people especially youths insane.
Which youths have gone insane please? Why should people think youths don’t know why the country is broke ? The youth know the root cause of their suffering and certainly the current government is trying hard to address these challenges. The opposition just lost another by-election amidst high cost of living , that should tell you something….
JAILED
DISGUSTING !!!!
THIS IS OVER JEALOUS POLICE TRYING TO IMPRESS WHO EVER
AS FOR THE MAGISTRATE HE SHOULD BE ASHAMED
FREEDOM OF SPEECH WHERE IS IT ??
I told you that it is AGAINST OUR CULTURE. The writer repeated my words.
Freedom of speech doesn’t mean insulting others. Grow up
Kanjimano what insults did these two mete out?
This is good. Justice has prevailed. People should not behave as if there are no laws in this land
Ba Lungu, Kwena U had a human heart..
Lungu please change your mind and come and stand
YOUR BA LUNGU WAS ALMOST BRAIN DEAD
there was no brain in the man
And this is the guy who claimed that he was against defamation laws and would repel them. Today he is happy to take advantage of them to revenge anyone who criticises him. Is it not funny that this case has been decided very quickly when there are many other cases before it that are still on hold. Hh will not win the next election . Even upnd praise singers know this. Ati inflation is down but fuel costs are going up haha we warned you. Hh lacks leadership experience. You cannot compare being ceo of an imperial company to management of an entire country.
And this is the guy who claimed that he was against defamation laws and would repel them. Today he is happy to take advantage of them to revenge anyone who criticises him. Is it not funny that this case has been decided very quickly when there are many other cases before it that are still on hold. Hh will not win the next election . Even upnd praise singers know this. Tell hh that kaizar says tall lay yako
And this is the guy who cIaimed that he was against defamati0n laws and would repeI them. Today he is happy to take advantage of them to revenge any0ne who crlticises him. Is it not funny that this case has been decided very quickIy when there are many other cases before it that are still on h0ld. Hh will not win the next eIection . Even upnd praise singers know this. Ati inflation is down but fuel costs are going up haha we warned you. Hh lacks leadership experience. You cannot compare being ceo of an imperial company to management of an entire country.
If you listened to the insults, you will not sympathize with the young people. The magistrate has said it is against our culture to insult elders and it is against the law. Its a good lesson but maybe a lesser sentence would have been ok looking at their age. However, i know that their is a minimum sentence for each offence.
@Doug
Admittedly I havent seen the video and don’t intend to
However how does a government gauge its true popularity by suppressing freedom of speech
Look what happened to Pf who thought they were riding high Kabooom
One cant have freedom of speech with clauses we either have or don’t have
Government must decide
We should follow South Africa on this one
These are results of tribal hatred the PF and the likes of CK planted in those parts of the country. What you see are symptoms of the deep rooted hatred which the youths got brainwashed with.
Those are just vulgar boys !! The other guy who reported the case is also from the area but got disgusted and reported it. Mind you HH had won in Chienge and even MP UPND Candidate lost by a very slim margin to an independent who was the incumbent MP so it may not be a matter of tribalism but simple indiscipline and lack of self control in expressing their disappointments over promises made by UPND to fix the road which successive governments after UNIP have failed to do!!
Defamation of the president more convictions. Corruption cases zero convictions and Mumbi Phiri has not even seen the inside of a court room. The economy is at the worst. This government priorities are remarkable.
My comment has been moderated for the first time because i called hh a chicarla cha mbuwa
Very good…..
That is why we say absolute freedoms of expression does not mean copying how PF caders were hurling insults at HH in videos in the run up to and during the elections….
More defamation cases eh! They are coming in, thick and fast – a record will soon be achieved to enter the Guinness book!
People blubber mouth all the time; what a government shouldn’t do, is pursue every little ‘loose’ talk – almost reducing state authority to bickering with citizens. This strategy is giving oxygen to stuff that should have died a natural death! What will silence the noise, is knuckling down to the task of running government; delivering the ‘goods’.
#plant a tree please.
Magistrate Mbewe – the aim is to educate – a community service and lessons on respect would have sufficed.
Freedom of speech does not amount to insults. Any person who says these two young men who insulted the President of the Zambia with impunity should subjected for mental examination. Is there anyone who can tell me that if one is not happy the way things are going for example in the house, then children have the freedom to insult the father in the name of freedom of speech. Please Zambians, we have a culture and laws in Zambia and if anyone abuse the freedom of speech, that person young or old should be punished.
Punishing people with imprisonment is not justified in a modern world when there are other ways justice could have been served. Judicial reforms are need fast and seriously. Justice is never served in our courts concerning corruption and insults are. What a shame.
Yes. These youths need to learn how to respect elders and the bible says respect people in authority. Next time they will try not do that again.
Lesson learnt
It is not just insulting the republican President that is against the law in Zambia.
Insulting the last president was an expression of freedom of speech…. but now expression of freedom has become an insult?
I repeat please don’t encourage people to insult others. It’s not our culture…. I remember people here comparing use to the USA laws where insulting the president was not a crime. Come to think of it, why don’t we let our presints to take anyone who insult them to the local courts.
This feels wrong
“I take note that the trend of insulting the Head of State with impunity is growing in this country even if it is an ordinary person. ” The question should be why is this increasing. More people are getting fed up