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Zambian journalist jailed over political television documentary

Xinhua, November 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

A court in Zambia on Tuesday jailed a famous journalist to two years with hard labor over the production of an infamous political documentary which vilified then opposition leader Michael Sata in the run-up to the 2011 general elections.

Chanda Chimba (III) was sent to jail after the court found him guilty of producing the defamatory "Stand Up for Zambia" documentary in 2010 and 2011 which was aired on state television and two other private television stations.

He was also found guilty over a charge of disposing of property suspected to be proceeds of crime.

The court however acquitted former Information and Broadcasting Minister Ronnie Shikapwasha and former permanent secretary in the same ministry Sam Phiri who were arrested together with the journalist. They were charged for abuse of authority of office for allowing the broadcasting of the documentary.

The trio was found with a case to answer in June this year.

The court said the prosecution failed to provide evidence that the former minister directed the state broadcaster to air the documentary.

The journalist, who also worked for the state broadcaster in the 1990s, produced the documentary which vilified Sata and all those close to him in the run-up to the general elections, which Sata won. Endit