Africa-Press – Zambia. Leader of the Opposition, Hon. BRIAN MUNDUBILE has urged President Hakainde Hichilema to henceforth direct the police stop human rights violations against Opposition leaders.
In the wake of the detention of opposition PF presidential candidate, Chishismba Kambwili following a high-handed early raid morning raid on his residence, Mr MUNDUBILE says the pattern has emerged where police are now being used as instruments of political persecution.
“The placement of a poisonous snake in a small cell where Mr Kambwili is being detained is a flagrant violation of his rights to be treated in a humane way as a suspect. This is torture and inhumane treatment which must stop henceforth.”
“We can only conclude that those who put him in the cell are the ones who earlier placed the snake there. This is designed to traumatise CK, subject him to fear, and possibly deprive him of sleep which is a form of torture prohibited under international law,” MUNDUBILE said.
It common practice that a suspect must be summoned to the nearest police station where the crime is alleged to have occurred, but a pattern has emerged where police are detaining people as far away as possible from where they live.
This practice was common in era of the one party dictatorship and we thought it was a distant sad memory but it appears a deliberate modus operandi of the UPND. Only last week, opposition leader Chilufya Tayali was whisked away into Lusaka West and detained for days over a bondable offence.
“Again, it appears the president has forgotten his own speeches, 17 short months after assuming power. He said police won’t arrest before investigating and that bond and bail will be available in cases that are bondable. But the opposite is the order of the day.”
The Leader of the Opposition, who is also a lawyer, says at a time of grave economic challenges afflicting the majority of our people, he felt the UPND would invest more time to arrest the high prices of mealie meal, petrol and ensure stable electricity supply households and firms.
“Stop the torture of Kambwili and release him immediately. We also urge the Human Rights Commission to take note of the deteriorating human rights situation in the country, ” MUNDUBILE said.
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