Lusaka | Wednesday
ZAMBIA police released an outspoken opposition politician and two journalists late on Tuesday after charging them with defaming President Frederick Chiluba, one of their defence lawyers said.
The three surrendered themselves to the police on Tuesday morning after their arrest was ordered at the weekend following a newspaper article which claimed Chiluba was a thief.
“All three have been released and formally charged for defaming the president and have been given bond,” said the lawyer, Mutembo Nchito.
Earlier, scores of opposition supporters descended on the police station, singing songs denouncing Chiluba.
They then held a vigil at the station to show support for opposition leader Edith Nawakwi, newspaper editor Fred M’membe and reporter Bivan Saluseki.
The supporters, mainly women and youths, waved petitions stating that they share the belief that Chiluba is a thief.
They burst into chants of jubilation at the news of the releases.
Nawakwi told reporters just before turning herself in to the police: “I am ready to go to jail over this because I have evidence to prove my allegations.”
A fourth defendant, Dipak Patel, was found by police on Monday in a private hospital where he had been admitted for an illness. He is currently under police guard at the hospital.
The defamation charge carries a maximum jail term of three years.
The order for the arrest of the four sparked a backlash, with a broad-based coalition of civic groups and the opposition on Monday circulating a petition entitled “President Chiluba is a thief.”
Signatories include opposition leaders Dean Mung’omba and Akashambatwa Lewanika, both of whom served in Chiluba’s cabinet until 1994.
Chiluba on Saturday said he would consider taking legal action against all those who have defamed him in local newspapers by calling him a thief.
Nawakwi made an allegation to that effect in an article in The Post written by Saluseki, while M’membe was being sought over an editorial he wrote headlined “Chiluba was a thief.”
Patel was quoted in the same newspaper as having alleged that Chiluba stole four million dollars in a maize deal.
The order to arrest the two politicians and two journalists came one day after the government closed down Radio Phoenix.
The private station, which has a large audience, is seen as a major competitor of the state-run Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation radio.
Radio Phoenix has in the past been threatened with closure by government and ruling party officials who accused it of broadcasting opposition propaganda. Phoenix gives coverage to opposition and rights organisations which are often censored on the state-run radio. – AFP