2 men sentenced to prison in Zambia for plotting to kill the president with witchcraft

LUSAKA Zambia AP A judge in Zambia on Monday sentenced two men to two-year terms in prison with hard labor after they were convicted of plotting to kill the president using witchcraft The men a Zambian and a Mozambican national were convicted under a colonial-era witchcraft law last week The court revealed that they had been in possession of charms including a live chameleon an animal tail and bottles of concoctions and had intended to use them to put a spell on President Hakainde Hichilema with the intention of killing him Leonard Phiri and Jasten Candunde pleaded for leniency from the magistrate who sentenced them Zambia s witchcraft law passed in defines practicing witchcraft as pretending to exercise any kind of supernatural power sorcery or enchantment intended to cause fear annoyance or injury The maximum sentence is three years in prison The trial also had a heavy dose of political intrigue with prosecutors alleging the two men were hired by a brother of a former lawmaker to curse Hichilema Police explained the men were arrested in a hotel room in the capital Lusaka last year after a cleaner released hearing strange noises They were uncovered with a chameleon in a bottle and the other items Multiple traditional beliefs have survived in Zambia alongside its official Christian religion A assessment by the Zambia Law Improvement Commission located that of Zambians assumed in witchcraft The belief in witchcraft also is prevalent in multiple other African countries AP Africa news https apnews com hub africa Source