This case discusses the Supreme Court of Zambia’s November 23, 2018 decision to sentence human rights defender and anti-corruption activist, Gregory Chifire, in absentia, to six years imprisonment on contempt of court charges. Mr. Chifire, via an online news platform, had called for an investigation into potential judicial corruption involving the largest bank and senior judges in the country, which resulted in his arrest and charges. He was pardoned on May 25, 2022. The case is currently pending before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
On March 13, 2018, the Supreme Court of Zambia ruled in the case Savenda Management Services v. Stanbic Bank Zambia Limited, which had been subject of a prior decision in both the High Court and the Court of Appeal. Gregory Chifiri, a human rights defender and anti-corruption activist, was charged for contempt of court following an article on the case. In a publication on an online news portal on May 9, 2018, the activist criticized the final decision. His article indicated that the judges in the case did not follow the Law, implicitly questioning whether there had been any form of corruption involved. This suspicion stemmed from the fact that, in other media reports, investigative journalists reported that the litigant bank had bribed judges from the Supreme Court.
In addition to his article, Mr. Chifire wrote a letter to Chief Justice Irene Mambilima of the Supreme Court. He urged her to investigate the serious allegations made against Magistrate Simusamba’s behavior in the case, who had already been the object of a complaint two years prior. Bishop John Mambo, the Chairman of a church-based charitable organization providing for the poor, also wrote a letter to Chief Justice Mambilima on the Savenda v. Stanbic Bank case. Yet, like Mr. Chifire, he was charged with contempt of court charges. In both cases, the Supreme Court of Zambia chose to charge both Mr Chifire and Bishop John Mambo with contempt of court for their letters to the Chief Justice, instead of investigating the credible allegations of corruption. Mr Chifire denied the charges in a trial which began on July 17 and concluded on September 19, but was then forced into exile before the matter was concluded. On November 23, 2018, the Supreme Court of Zambia found Mr. Chifire to be guilty of being in contempt of court and sentenced him, in absentia, to six years imprisonment.
Mr. Chifire lived over a thousand days in exile, but upon the new administration in Zambia he returned home in October 2021. On May 25 2022, President Hakainde Hichilema pardoned 949 inmates and commuted sentences for 98 others. Mr. Chifire was among those pardoned.
The complaint, filed in 2019, requests the African Commission to, inter alia, “investigate and recommend that a finding of contempt of court by the Supreme Court of Zambia, against Mr. Chifire for expressing an opinion on a final judgment is an infringement of the rights to freedom of expression and dignity under Articles 9(2) and 5 of the Charter.” The Communication was seized by the ACHPR in 2020. Submissions on admissibility were filed on behalf of the applicant (Communication 726/19: Gregory Chifire v Zambia). The Southern Africa Human Rights Defenders Network and the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria are part of Mr. Chifire’s legal team in this case.
It is a common practice in Zambia to arrest and criminalize journalists or anyone who exposes corruption by influential figures, such as politicians and judges. For example, on December 20, 2018, the Zambia’s Supreme Court also sentenced Derrick Sinjela, editor-in-chief of the privately owned Rainbow Newspaper, to 18 months in prison for the same crime. Sinjela was convicted in September due to articles that accused the Supreme Court of corruption and questioned its handling of a case between two private companies. This was the same corruption matter Chifire was charged and convicted on.
Reports further show that strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP) and prosecution of the press are common in Zambia, in which journalists are either arrested or sued for defamation, particularly after publishing corruption related stories. For instance, in January 2020, two cabinet ministers and President Lungu’s daughter sued journalists over a story on corruption. This behavior goes back to 2015, when Zambian authorities arrested two journalists and accused them of publishing classified documents, according to news reports. They had published a letter written to President Lungu by the Anti-Corruption Commission indicating that his aide was involved in corruption. The journalists were charged under the State Secrecy Law. In January 2022, Zambia introduced a 16% value added tax (VAT) on print and electronic newspapers, which prompted concern over whether this new tax would limit access to information and cause the repression of the population’s freedom of speech and press.
- Amnesty International, Zambia: Anti-corruption activist facing trumped-up charges must not be jailed (21 November 2018)
- News24, Zambia arrests editor, journalist over anti-corruption letter (16 July 2015)