Zambian President Commutes Death Sentences For Nearly 400 Inmates After Abolishing Capital Punishment

9 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema has commuted the death sentence handed down against 390 people to life imprisonment, after ratifying in December the abolition of the death penalty after a moratorium in place since the last execution in 1997.

The Zambian Minister of the Interior and Security, Jack Mwiimbu, has indicated that the president’s decision is part of the authorities’ commitment to the preservation of life and respect for Human Rights, as reported by the newspaper ‘Lusaka Times’.

The decision affects 390 people who are incarcerated in the maximum security prisons of Mukobeko, which house both men and women, after which Mwiimbu himself has expressed his wish that the courts explore alternative sentences for minor crimes to deal with overcrowding in the country’s prisons.

Following the Hichilema decision, Zambia became the 25th country in sub-Saharan Africa to abolish the death penalty. Amnesty International said the measure “should serve as an example to countries in the region that still use the death penalty to take immediate steps to end this cruel, inhuman and degrading form of punishment and protect the right to life.”

Hichilema said after signing the order abolishing the death penalty that during his campaign he “promised to amend all laws that inhibit the growth of democracy and good governance, impede Human Rights and basic freedoms,” the Lusaka Times reported. ‘. “Today we have complied,” he settled.