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The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Gilbert Phiri, has approached the High Court to appeal against the five months imprisonment with hard labour slammed on Chishimba Kambwili for hate speech against the Tonga People of Southern Province.
Phiri raised two grounds of appeal in a notice filed in the Lusaka High Court on December 5, 2023.
Read more: Breaking! Court jails ex-Minister of Foriegn Affairs, Kambwili, 5 months for hate speech
The DPP argued that Kasama Senior Resident Magistrate, Samson Mumba, erred in law when he sentenced the convict to a term of five months imprisonment with hard labour for the offence of hate speech which carries maximum sentence of two years.
He also contended that the trial erred in law when it misapplied the principals of sentencing in relation to the gravity and nature of the offence committed.
In the first ground of appeal, the DPP contended that the trial Court erred in law when it sentenced Kambwili to a term of five months imprisonment with hard labour for the offence of hate speech which had a maximum sentence of two years.
Kambwili, a Patriotic Front (PF) senior member was last week sent to prison for the offence of expressing hatred and ridicule for persons because of tribe and place of origin.
He also argued that the Court erred in law when it misapplied the principles of sentencing in relation to the gravity and nature of the offence committed.
Kambwili was said to have issued anti-Tonga tribal remarks during the 2021 elections when he featured on a live paid for programme on Radio Mano on unknown dates but between May 1 and August 8, 2021.
He was later suspended for a month by the Electoral Commission of Zambia ( ECZ) over the said remarks.
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