The Paralegal Alliance Network (PAN), a network of organizations and individuals promoting access to justice and human rights says it is disturbed by the degrading and inhuman treatment of youths alleged to have defamed President Hakainde Hichilema by officers from the defense force.
PAN National Director Phillip Sabuni said when a citizen has committed a crime, there is a laid down procedure that should be followed in dealing with the issue and it does not matter what one has done, the law has stipulated how the individual should be treated therefore the law must be followed.
Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Sabuni said beating an individual in order to get a confession from them is torture and Article 15 of the Laws of Zambia prohibits degrading treatment or punishment of any person adding that it is not the duty of soldiers to investigate and detain suspects of criminal defamation instead it is the police who are supposed to arrest the suspects and follow the law in handling the case until the charges have been answered.
Sabuni said the complaints by the public are not meant to justify what the suspects did but it is the wrong and unfair treatment of the suspects that some members of the public are condemning.
He added that such acts are creating situations where people are moving from the rule of law noting that the president has always emphasized on the issue of the rule of law hence doing things outside what the law has provided is wrong and will dent the image of Zambia as a nation if human rights are not respected.
And in a statement made available to ZBT, PAN Board Chairperson Eugene Kabilika said the UPND government should work towards total eradication of all forms of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of individuals.
Kabilika stated that the Head of State must seize the opportunity and enact a national law criminalizing torture within his term of office as part of his resounding commitment to upholding the democratic rule of law and good governance.
