death sentence

Zambia’s court of appeal has dealt with a sensational murder and arson case in a recent decision that highlights two problems. First, the court’s judgment of 16 December 2022 upheld the death penalty imposed on a woman accused of murdering her gym instructor boyfriend by setting him alight. Just days after the appeal court’s decision, however, Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema finally abolished the death penalty, leading the justice minister to comment that from now on, no court could impose the death penalty.

After a cattle-rustling raid into Zambia by uniformed Angolan soldiers armed with assault rifles, a local man has been convicted and sentenced to death. It is an unusual case for several reasons: armed border raids seldom result in a conviction, for example. But it is also significant because it shows the Supreme Court, Zambia's highest legal forum, taking more than four years to deliver judgment.