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The Lusaka Magistrate Court has freed opposition PF party vice- president, Given Lubinda, of the offence of breaching Parliamentary privileges.
In this matter, Lubinda was facing one count of failure to appear before the committee or assembly contrary to Section 11(a) of the National Assembly Act ( Powers and Privileges) Chapter 12 of the Laws of Zambia as read with Amendment Act no.13 of 2016 of the Constitution.
The offence carries a sentence of three months or a fine of K10,000 or both.
It was alleged Lubinda failed to appear before a Parliamentary Committee between December 2021 and June 2022 after being summoned by Speaker of the National Assembly, Nelly Muti.
This followed his criticism of the Speaker’s decision to expel nine PF Parliamentarians whose election results were nullified by the High Court. Lubinda was taken into custody on May 16, 2023, following the allegations.
When the matter came up on Friday, Magistrate Trevor Kasanda, Lubinda pleaded not guilty.
The defence argued that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the matter as time required to prosecute the matter had passed and cited Section 219 of the Criminal Procedure Code .
Magistrate Kasanda discharged Lubinda because the period within which such a case was supposed to be taken to court for trial had elapsed.
He said the particulars of the offence did show that the accused had failed to appear before the National Assembly but the the case was delayed by 12 months.
“This court cannot do anything. The issue by the accused is caused by the Prosecutor. The Prosecutor should not be delaying matters to be brought, they have a tendency of delaying. I have granted the defense application, the accused is free to go home,” he ruled.
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