Zambia's main opposition leader
Hakainde Hichilema and his deputy Geoffrey Mwamba are due to be charged with
sedition by a court on Thursday, police said, a move his party said was an
attempt by the ruling party to silence dissent.
Two months ago, Hichilema's United
Party for National Development (UPND) denounced President Edgar Lungu's
re-election as fraudulent but attempts to mount a legal challenge have been
unsuccessful.
Hichilema and Mwamba were detained
on Wednesday accused of holding an assembly without a permit in connection with
an impromptu address he gave on Sept 26 to a group of supporters in the central
city of Mpongwe, police said.
Sedition in Zambia is defined by
conduct inciting people to rebel against the authority of the state, and
carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.
"This is a scheme by the party
in power to harass the opposition and instill fear in them," UPND
spokesman Charles Kakoma said.
"They know that they did not
genuinely win the last elections and want to instill fear in those who want to
speak out against what happened that they risk being arrested."
Hichilema continues to dispute the
August election outcome and in a statement before his arrest compared the
government's conduct to the limitation of freedoms experienced when Zambia was
still a British colony.
-Reuters
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