The drunken police officer who freed 13 suspects to celebrate New Year: another perspective
By Sishuwa Sishuwa
Much has been said, in both local and international media, about the case of a drunken police officer who freed 13 suspects from custody so that they could go and celebrate the new year. Detective inspector Titus Phiri released the suspects from a police station who were accused of crimes such as assault, robbery and burglary. They are all currently on the run and a manhunt has been launched to find them.
The fundamental issue here is not about the actions of an allegedly drunk police officer who freed 13 suspects from custody on New Year’s Eve. It is about the continued violations of the rights of suspects by the State.
Under Zambian law, the police are required to charge suspects with a known offence and either release them on bond or present them before court within 48 hours. In practice, the police have kept suspects in detention, often without charge, for several weeks and sometimes months. This is not only unlawful but also a violation of human rights.
The more than dozen individuals whom the officer helped to escape were not prisoners but suspects arrested for different offences that are bailable. Why were the suspects still in the police holding cell long after their arrest? Why were they not charged and either released on bond or taken to court where they could take plea and apply for bail? This incident is not isolated. It is part of a wider disrespect for the law by the police, one that has seen individuals being arrested and either kept in detention without being taken to court or taken to court where the state imposes punitive bail conditions.
Take the example of Francis Kapwepwe, popularly known as Why Me. A 29-year old blogger, Kapwepwe was arrested in April 2024 on the Copperbelt and transferred to Livingstone, Southern Province, about 800 kilometres away, where he has neither relatives nor friends. Police stated that although Kapwepwe lives in Kitwe, the person who filed the complaint against him was based in Mazabuka, Southern Province. He was kept in detention without charge for four months and, following public uproar, was finally taken to court in August 2024.
Kapwepwe, an ethnic Bemba, was ultimately charged with hate speech against the Tonga-speaking people of Southern Province. The charge arose from comments he made in a Facebook video that President Hakainde Hichilema, Zambia’s first Tonga-speaking president, had performed so poorly and divided the country to such an extent that voters are unlikely to vote for another Tonga in future. These remarks were interpreted by the complainant, a Tonga speaker, as hate speech, an offence legally defined as the act of expressing or showing hatred, ridicule or contempt for persons because of race, tribe, place of origin or colour. Conviction for hate speech carries a two-year prison sentence.
After he pleaded not guilty to the charge, the presiding magistrate imposed a cash bail of K10,000 and two working sureties as conditions for his release from custody. The blogger has been unable to meet these bail conditions. In effect, Kapwepwe has been in prison since April last year, serving a sentence before trial commences and before he is convicted by any court of law. His case is a perfect illustration of the plight of the poor when it comes to accessing justice in Zambia.
Although their freedom came from an unlikely saviour, the 13 suspects who were freed by a drunken police officer represent hundreds of ordinary Zambians who continue to languish in detention for petty crimes that attract police bond or are bailable. In Zambia, poor people in state custody and even in prisons are treated poorly and ignored by many. The drunk cop has merely opened a small window into these abuses which have been going on for a long time.