In brief
In a landmark ruling, Leonard Phiri and Jasten Mabulesse Candunde have been convicted of witchcraft related to a plot against Zambia's President. Found with charms, including a live chameleon, their case raises questions about the intersection of traditional beliefs and law in Zambia. The two men will serve their two-year sentence concurrently, starting from their arrest last December.
A court in Zambia has sentenced two men to two years in prison for attempting to use witchcraft to kill President Hakainde Hichilema.
Zambian Leonard Phiri and Mozambican Jasten Mabulesse Candunde were convicted under the Witchcraft Act after being arrested in December with charms in their possession, including a live chameleon.
It is my considered view that the convicts were not only the enemy of the head of state but were also enemies of all Zambians, magistrate Fine Mayambu said in his ruling.
The case has been closely followed in Zambia, as this was the first time anyone was put on trial for attempting to use witchcraft against a president.
The prosecution alleged that Phiri and Candunde were hired by a fugitive former MP to bewitch Hichilema.
Despite their insistence that they were bona fide traditional healers, the court found Phiri and Candunde guilty on two counts under the Witchcraft Act.
The two accepted ownership of the charms. Phiri further demonstrated that the chameleon's tail, once pricked and used in the ritual, would cause death to occur within five days, Magistrate Mayambu said.
The lawyer for the two men, Agrippa Malando, said his clients pleaded for leniency as they were first-time offenders. He urged the court to fine them, but the request was rejected.
Magistrate Mayambu noted that many people in Zambia, like in other African countries, believed in witchcraft, even though it was not scientifically proven. The law was designed to protect society from fear and harm caused by those claiming to have the power to carry out acts of witchcraft, he said.
In addition to the two-year sentence they received for professing witchcraft, the men were sentenced to six months in prison for possessing charms. As the sentences will run concurrently, they will serve only two years in prison, effective from the date of their arrest in December 2024.
Hichilema has previously stated he does not believe in witchcraft. He has not commented on the case.
Lawyer Dickson Jere told the BBC that the Witchcraft Act was passed during colonial rule in 1914. He noted that people were rarely prosecuted for practicing witchcraft but emphasized its protective purpose against mob justice targeting the accused.
