The last executions took place in 1997, when former...

The last executions took place in 1997, when former president Frederick Chiluba authorised the hanging of eight prisoners.
The eight were the only inmates Chiluba assented to hang during his ten years in office. His predecessor, Kenneth Kaunda, approved the hanging of more than 70 prisoners but said most of them were executed during the civil wars in southern Africa.
Kaunda has since become an advocate for the abolition of capital punishment. In May 2003, President Levy Mwanawasa refused to sign scores of death sentences, commuting all the sentences to life imprisonment.
There were about 250 people on death row in Zambia at the time, according to a report by the Inter Press Service, that did not specify the exact number of commutations.