An opposition party leader in Zambia has been released from custody after he was detained for defaming the country’s President Edgar Lungu.
Fresher Siwale had accused Mr. Lungu of being a foreigner from Malawi and was arrested in April following the allegation.
He has spent a month in prison after his lawyers failed to meet his bail terms set by the court.
Siwale could only be set free on bail unless a government worker guaranteed his bail. BBC reported that his lawyers applied to the court to relax the bail conditions leading to his release on Thursday.
One of his guarantors, Mike Mulongoti told the BBC that “He’s out. I signed for him as well as another gentleman. It’s just a pity that while we live in a country that presumes someone innocent until proven guilty, the courts seem to do the opposite.”
“The bail conditions the courts set make people first get incarcerated as if they are first guilty then proven innocent” Mulongoti was quoted as saying.
Mr Siwale, will however return to court on 5 July as his defamation trial continues.
President Edgar Lungu himself is facing an impeachment proceeding after the Zambian main opposition party, United Party for National Development (UPND) filed a motion pushing for Lungu’s impeachment accusing him of constitutional breaches.
The debate of the motion has been delayed since March this year.
Source: Africafeeds.com
