Lungu Pardons Additional 249 Inmates

President Edgar Lungu has pardoned an additional 249 inmates as part of the commemorations to mark Africa Freedom Day on Monday.

Earlier this week, the president released 2,984 prisoners in a bid to decongest correctional facilities to help prevent the spread of Covid-19. 

Among those released on Monday were a homosexual couple, Japhet Chataba and Stephen Sambo, who were imprisoned for having sex with each other in November last year. 

The two men were originally sentenced for 15 years in prison, prompting outrage from then-US Ambassador to Zambia Daniel Foote, who called the punishment “horrific”.

Ambassador Foote was recalled to Washington in December after President Lungu declared him an “undesired element in society”.

Following the latest pardons, Zambia’s inmate population stands at 19,000, with no cases of Covid-19 recorded in Zambian prisons since the start of the outbreak. 

In other countries, fears over the spread of Covid-19 in prisons has prompted similar mass-pardoning and early releases. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, 3,000 inmates have been released, while Sudan has released over 4,000.