Lusaka - Zambian opposition leader
Hakainde Hichilema was freed by a judge on Wednesday after the
state prosecutor dropped charges against him of plotting to
overthrow the government.
Hichilema and five others were arrested in April and charged
with treason after his convoy failed to make way for President
Edgar Lungu's motorcade.
His release could help defuse tensions
in the southern African country, where Lungu imposed a state of
emergency in July.
"The DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) has decided to
terminate these proceedings by virtue of her constitutional
powers. Therefore, you're hereby discharged," said high court
judge Charles Chanda.
The case has heightened political friction in Zambia, seen
as one of Africa's more stable democracies, after a bruising
election last year in which Lungu's Patriotic Front defeated
Hichilema's United Party for National Development.
Hichilema, an economist and businessman widely known by his
initials HH, mounted an unsuccessful legal challenge claiming
the poll was rigged.
Government and legal sources had told Reuters on Sunday that
Zambia's government would drop the treason charges against
Hichilema and free him from prison under a deal brokered by the
Commonwealth secretary-general.