Charge against Zambian opposition leader dropped

By Francis MaingailaLUSAKA, Zambia (AA) - A Zambian magistrate court has acquitted opposition leader Hakainde Hic­hilema of the charge of using insulting lan­guage on Monday The head of the United Party for National Development (UPND), who has been detained for over a month, was acquitted for lack of evi­dence a week after the Director for Public Prosecutors dropped other charge of disobeying statutory orders. A charge of treason still remains. Judge Greenwell Malumano told the court that the poli­ce officer who arres­ted Hichilema lied under oath when he claimed to have been insulted by the accused as he was investigating the treason charge."But evidence on rec­ord shows that, no investigation was made and the offic­er never visited the scene of a crime [...]. If he did not visit the scene of crime then he was not insulted," said the judge. The decision on whether the treas­on case has merit to stand trial will be made on May 22.