I WAS TAKEN TO PRISON WITHOUT WARRANT OF DETENTION… You can’t go to Chimbokaila without appearing before the court of law, cries Gabriel Elias Banda

I WAS TAKEN TO PRISON WITHOUT WARRANT OF DETENTION

… You can’t go to Chimbokaila without appearing before the court of law, cries Gabriel Elias Banda

Lusaka, Tuesday, October 10, 2023 (Smart Eagles)

Socialist Party (SP) National Youth Secretary Gabriel Elias Banda has cried over the inhuman treatment the police subjected him to.

The vibrant leader has revealed that he was taken to Chimbokaila prison without a warrant of detention.

This is in a case where he stands charged with inciting violence.

Sharing his experience when he addressed the media at the party secretariat in Lusaka yesterday, Mr Banda said he received a callout from Chelstone Police Station on Wednesday, about two weeks ago.

He said he was asked to avail himself for questioning the following day at the Police Station in question.

“The following day, I went to Chelstone, of course with the leadership of the party, the lawyers of course as well as other members of the public. We went for interviews, we had successful interviews,” he said.

“But after the interviews I was detained, arrested and charged with two counts. The first I was charged with criminal trespass, then second, I was charged with proposing violence. Criminal trespass ku UNZA. I heard that there was a riot at UNZA, so I was charged with criminal trespass at UNZA, then for proposing violence. 59 years of independence in the history of Zambia, UNZASU was formed in 1968, that is when we had the first UNZASU.”

Almost breaking down as he recalled the illegalities perpetrated against him during the time he was in police detention, Mr Banda said “I am the first UNZASU president in the history of this country to be charged with criminal trespass. Where are we going? Where is the country going?”

“I was detained at Chelstone. They told me to take my shoes off, I took them off. I went with a suit, a blue one, I sat. when I got into the cells I was given respect. They were saying this is the leader of the nation.”

He called for the need for Zambians to respect each other regardless on one’s social standing in society.

“We only have one Zambia. Whether you are Socialist, whether UPND, whether PF, whether Zambia Must Prosper, we are all Zambians. We ought to respect one another. We are all leaders of the country. At 19:20, C5 came to pick me up. That is how they picked me, I didn’t know where we were going. My lawyers were not informed of my being picked up, naine nemwana pano, ndimwaiche sana pano mpelele,” he lamented.

“They (C5) were firing gunshots all the way… we started off at 19:25 at Chelstone, we reached at 19:56… I was taken to taken to KANAKANTAPA. My lawyers asked for police bond… I qualified for police bond. I was kept at Kanankatapa without police bond for SIX days. My lawyers applied for habeas corpus. The night when the following day I was supposed to be having habeas corpus, after coming back from KANAKANTAPA, I went back to Chestone.”

He further narrated that from Chelstone Police Station, he was in the afternoon taken to Chimbokaila.

“You can’t take someone to prison without a warrant of detention from a point of law. That is rule of law. Rule of law is ruling by law, not what you are thinking. You can’t go to Chimbokaila without appearing before the court of law. When I went there, even the people who attended to me were shocked. We thank the Courts of Law that I was granted bail,” he said.