Zambia opposition leader arrested on treason charge

Taonga Mitimingi, Bloomberg News on Aug 30, 2026

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Zambian police arrested and charged the country’s main opposition leader with treason, ramping up political tensions that have spiked after the copper-rich nation’s disputed August general election.

Brian Mundubile and his former running mate, Makebi Zulu, were formally charged on Aug. 29 along with 16 other suspects, Zambia Police Service spokesman Godfrey Chilabi said by telephone Sunday. The two were taken into police custody on Aug. 27.

Mundubile’s treason charge is the latest in a series of events in the aftermath of the disputed elections in which incumbent President Hakainde Hichilema was declared the winner. Several of Mundubile’s team members were arrested before and after the elections, and the authorities shot dead a former minister in an exchange of fire at the opposition leader’s home in Lusaka, the capital, a day after the vote.

Under Zambian law, treason is a non-bailable offense and carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Hichilema himself faced treason charges in 2017, while he was still in opposition. The state ultimately dropped the charges after he’d spent about four months in custody, thanks in part to international intervention.

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