Zambian opposition chief Brian Mundubile has been charged with treason, his lawyer has stated amid heightened political tensions within the nation.
Mundubile was arrested on Thursday, after a lethal raid by the authorities led the opposition politician to enter hiding.
He had disputed the outcomes of the nation’s latest presidential election, which noticed incumbent President Hakainde Hichilema securing a second time period.
The authorities then accused Mundubile’s NRPUP occasion of planning an armed insurgency, which it denied.
On Saturday evening, Mundubile’s lawyer Milner Katolo introduced that his shopper had been charged with treason. The opposition chief seems to be ahead to answering the accusation in courtroom, Katolo instructed the Zambian Eye, exterior.
The lawyer stated 17 others, together with Mundubile’s operating mate Makebi Zulu, had additionally been charged with treason.
Mundubile gained 38% of the vote within the 13 August election, whereas Hichilema secured 60%, official outcomes present.
The day after the ballot, safety forces raided a property within the capital, Lusaka, linked to Mundubile, killing a former cupboard minister and arresting quite a few different politicians.
The federal government stated they seized weapons in the course of the raid.
Following the raid, Mundubile and Zulu took refuge at a United Nations constructing within the metropolis. The pair have been detained after the president put strain on the UN at hand them over.
The opposition was unable to mount a authorized problem to the election end result because the courts have been sealed off by the authorities on Monday, the ultimate day {that a} case could possibly be filed.
Hichilema is because of be sworn in for a second time period on 1 September.
Regional and worldwide observers described the election day as largely peaceable, however Zambia’s Human Rights Fee has known as for accountability over folks whose whereabouts stay unknown following arrests and safety operations across the elections.