The pair were arrested in December with charms, including a live chameleon, which prosecutors said were intended for a ritual to cause the president’s death.
A Zambian court has sentenced Leonard Phiri and Mozambican national Jasten Mabulesse Candunde to two years in prison for attempting to use witchcraft to kill President Hakainde Hichilema.
The pair were arrested in December with charms, including a live chameleon, which prosecutors said were intended for a ritual to cause the president’s death.
“It is my considered view that the convicts were not only enemies of the head of state but also enemies of all Zambians,” Magistrate Fine Mayambu ruled.
The court heard that the men were allegedly hired by a fugitive former lawmaker. Although they claimed to be traditional healers, both were convicted on two counts under the rarely invoked Witchcraft Act of 1914.
“The two accepted ownership of the charms. Phiri even demonstrated that the chameleon’s tail, once pricked and used in a ritual, would cause death within five days,” the magistrate said.
Defense lawyer Agrippa Malando urged leniency, noting the men were first-time offenders. However, the court imposed an additional six-month sentence for possession of charms, to run concurrently with their two-year jail term.
President Hichilema, who has publicly dismissed beliefs in witchcraft, has not commented on the case.
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