HRC Presses Police, Prosecutors to Charge or Release 84 Election Detainees

The Human Rights Commission has urged the Zambia Police Service and the National Prosecution Authority to immediately charge, grant bond to, or release at least 84 people who remain in custody in connection with the August 13 general elections.

HRC Chairperson Dr Pamela Towela Sambo said prolonged detention without a court appearance violates Articles 13 and 18 of the Constitution, as well as international human rights law to which Zambia is a party.

“The commission is monitoring several cases,” Sambo said in a statement issued this week. She cited the case of Alphonso Daka and 42 others arrested on August 14 in Roma Township, Lusaka, who remained in custody at Chelston as of September 1 despite investigations having been concluded.

Sambo also flagged the case of six men arrested in Ng’ombe on August 13, Newton Miti, Joseph Phiri, Collins Kavwali, Kennedy Chimfwembe, Emmanuel Banda and Fredrick Machali, who she said had spent 19 days in custody without formal charge. A seventh man, Enock Roosevelt Tonga, arrested at the National Results Centre on August 17, remained in detention as well.

In Kalabo, 16 people, including musicians known as Chester and Felix Phiri and comedian IDC Light Comedy, were granted bail only after spending an extended period in custody on riotous behaviour charges, according to the Commission.

Sambo said 18 others, including National Reconciliation Party for Unity and Prosperity presidential candidate Brian Mundubile and his running mate Makebi Zulu, are facing treason charges following the August 14 arrests in Kabulonga.

The HRC chairperson also raised the case of opposition figure Kennedy Kamba, who she said had been detained for around two weeks after being granted bail, and whose whereabouts were only recently established at Kabwata Police Station.

Sambo rejected suggestions that overcrowded police cells justified continued delays in processing detainees, and called on police to review all outstanding cases, disclose the whereabouts of those held, and ensure access to family members and legal representation.

“…Release all those whose continued detention exposes the risk of ill-treatment, restricts access to legal representation and undermines public confidence,” Sambo said, according to the Commission’s statement.

She said the Commission would continue engaging the National Prosecution Authority to ensure dockets were processed promptly, and would maintain its monitoring of detention facilities across the country.

The 84 cases form part of a wider pattern of arrests and detentions the Commission says it has tracked since the disputed election period, spanning multiple provinces and a range of charges, from riotous behaviour to treason.

Government has separately disputed the characterisation of the post-election period as a “crackdown,” and has rejected the description of those detained as “political detainees,” arguing that the term implies a conclusion about the nature of the charges that has not been established through due process.

The Commission has said its monitoring role is independent of that political dispute, and that its concern centres on constitutional compliance regarding the length and conditions of pre-charge detention, irrespective of the underlying nature of individual cases.

Human rights groups, including the Commission, have separately sought clarification on the welfare of Bishop Trevor Mwamba, businessman Patrick Mwansa, lawyer George Chisanga and other co-accused persons connected to the broader treason proceedings.

The Commission said it would issue further updates as cases progressed through the legal system, and reiterated its call for authorities to ensure that constitutional protections around detention were consistently observed regardless of the political sensitivity of individual cases.