Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema has been petitioned over the continued detention of former PF Deputy Secretary General Mumbi Phiri who has been in detention without trial since February.
Mumbi is jointly charged with former President Edgar Lungu’s barber, Shebby Chilekwa for the alleged murder of a UPND member, Lawrence Banda.
In a petition letter by Labour Economists and African Democrats (LEAD) President Linda Masarira to President Hichilema, the Zimbabwe opposition leader demanded an immediate stop to the unlawful detention of Mumbi.
She stated that the continued incarceration of the former PF deputy secretary general is unacceptable and a violation of her fundamental human rights.
Meanwhile, United Party for National Development (UPND) and Southern Province Minister Cornelius Mweetwa, has said the president did not intervene in the country’s justice system and that it was the prerogative of the judiciary.
Mweetwa said in as much as there was no justification for the prolonged detention of Ms Phiri, the head of state had made it clear that he would not meddle in the running of the judicial system.
Mweetwa said the only reason that Phiri’s case was exemplified was that she was a politician and that there were other people who had been in detention for a prolonged period of time.
