Zambia Court Jails Two Men for Witchcraft Plot to Kill President Hichilema

A Zambian court has sentenced two men to prison for attempting to use witchcraft in a plot to kill President Hakainde Hichilema.

Leonard Phiri, a Zambian national, and Mozambican citizen Jasten Mabulesse Candunde were arrested in December after being found with charms, including a live chameleon. Prosecutors said the men were hired by a fugitive former Member of Parliament to carry out a ritual against the president.

Delivering judgment, Magistrate Fine Mayambu ruled that the two were guilty under Zambia’s colonial-era Witchcraft Act of 1914, which is rarely enforced. He described them as “enemies of all Zambians” and not only of the head of state.

The court heard that Phiri admitted ownership of the charms and demonstrated how pricking the chameleon’s tail for use in the ritual would allegedly cause death within five days.

Both men were handed two years in prison for attempting to use witchcraft to kill President Hichilema, along with six additional months for possessing charms. The sentences will run concurrently.

Defense lawyer Agrippa Malando appealed for leniency on the grounds that the pair were first-time offenders, but the request was rejected.

President Hichilema, who has repeatedly stated he does not believe in witchcraft, has not commented on the ruling.