A 16-year-old pupil of Lusaka’s Garden Chilulu Township on Friday appeared in the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court for allegedly publishing an image of President Edgar Lungu in a squatting position that depicted the Head of State sitting on the toilet.
The 16-year-old is charged with one count of defamation of the President.
It is alleged that on December 2, 2019 in Lusaka, the juvenile, with intent to bring the Republican President into hatred or ridicule, unlawfully published a defamatory image of the Republican President on Facebook.
When the matter came up for plea before magistrate Albert Mwaba, Friday, the 16-year-old admitted the charge.
But when asked why he published the defamatory image, the juvenile said he did not know what he was doing.
Further asked if he had any intention of bringing the President’s name into ridicule or disrepute, the 16-year-old said he did not.
Magistrate Mwaba then entered an unequivocal plea of not guilty after the juvenile said he had no intentions to defame the President.
The matter was adjourned to January 14, 2020 for trial.
2 responses
In my opinion, the juvenile must be sentenced to 12 years of schooling as punishment with hard labor in form of learning/ reading by sending him to school until he learns the constitution. Probably up to university level. When this is done, he will not defame anyone again because he will be a learned person. Send the boy to a good school so that he learns NOT ku “Katombola”. This boy has shown some intelligence in using information technology, just help him learn and not killing his future. He is a boy!
This whole defamation business should come to an end. We are now seeing children being shamelessly dragged to court all in the name of protecting the president. Leaders should be ready to face criticism of all sorts from people. Some things thrown at them will not be pleasant and they should know that this will always happen in a democratic society. People should be free to express themselves even if it means saying things that are not nice in the eyes of those in power.