Zambia
2026
- GOVERNMENT
- presidential republic
- CONSTITUTION
- August 1991, amended by Parliament on January 5, 2016 (a constitutional referendum was held on August 11, 2016, but participation was 44%, below the 50% threshold required)
- LEGAL SYSTEM
- is based on common law and customary law; review of legislative acts by an ad hoc constitutional council
- LEGISLATIVE SYSTEM
- unicameral, National Assembly
- JUDICIAL SYSTEM
- Supreme Court, High Court
RELIGIONS
50-75% Christians, 24-49% Muslims and Hindus, 1% indigenous beliefs
From the country
- FEBRUARY 27, 2004ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa quashed the death...
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa quashed the death sentences imposed on 44 soldiers convicted of treason in 1999
- JANUARY 22, 2004ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
Zambia army officers and men at Gondar barracks near...
Zambia army officers and men at Gondar barracks near Chipata, a town 569km east of Lusaka, submitted to the Constitutional Review Commission to abolish the death penalty in the laws of Zambia and replace it with life imprisonment
- DECEMBER 29, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
Spare [1997 military coup leader] Captain Solo and...
Spare [1997 military coup leader] Captain Solo and all those on the death row, [opposition] Patriotic Front president Michael Sata urged [Zambian] President [Levy] Mwanawasa
- DECEMBER 18, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
Zambia's Supreme Court confirmed death sentences for...
Zambia's Supreme Court confirmed death sentences for 44 soldiers for their role in a failed 1997 military coup, but acquitted 10 others, citing a lack of evidence
- OCTOBER 27, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
A Zambian High Court sentenced Felix Mulela, a Christian...
A Zambian High Court sentenced Felix Mulela, a Christian church pastor, and his wife, Sharon Mulela, to death by hanging after finding them guilty of killing their domestic worker, Sara Soko, in 2000
- AUGUST 13, 2003ItalyDEATH PENALTY
Sergio D'Elia and Elisabetta Zamparutti, together with...
Sergio D'Elia and Elisabetta Zamparutti, together with Silvia Piccinini of the Italian Embassy in Lusaka, met with MP Doris Katai Mwinga, Clerk of the Zambian National Assembly
- JULY 26, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
Moses Mulenga, 32, and Amon Banda, 36, were sentenced...
Moses Mulenga, 32, and Amon Banda, 36, were sentenced to death by Lusaka High Court Judge Gregory Phiri for the murder of Major Wezi Kaunda, the son of Zambia's first president Kenneth Kaunda
- MAY 30, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
Zambian MP Chipangali Lucas Phiri said rape offenders...
Zambian MP Chipangali Lucas Phiri said rape offenders needed to be castrated or sentenced to death to serve as a warning to would-be offenders, the Times of Zambia reported
- MAY 21, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
"Human rights campaigners in Zambia won a major victory...
"Human rights campaigners in Zambia won a major victory recently when President Levy Mwanawasa refused to sign scores of death sentences, commuting all the sentences to life imprisonment," reported the Inter Press Service
- MAY 16, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
Roel Goosen, 33, was sentenced to death by the Lusaka...
Roel Goosen, 33, was sentenced to death by the Lusaka High Court after he was convicted of killing Lillian Nkhata on August 30, 2001 during a prayer meeting in Lusaka's Barlastone area
- APRIL 19, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa appointed a commission...
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa appointed a commission to review the constitution and advise on whether to abolish the death penalty
- MARCH 30, 2003ZambiaDEATH PENALTY
More than 300 prisoners facing the death penalty in...
More than 300 prisoners facing the death penalty in Zambia are kept in overcrowded cells, where conditions violate basic human rights, Jethro Mumbuwa, the country's commissioner of prisons, said