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Jailed Patriotic Front (PF) faction Secretary General, Raphael Nakacinda, has discontinued his petition challenging the constitutionality of Zambia’s sedition law, court records show.
According to a notice of withdrawal filed in the Lusaka High Court, Nakacinda terminated the proceedings with immediate effect.
The notice, dated January 13, 2026, was filed by Makebi Zulu Advocates and formally ended a petition originally lodged on September 30, 2025.
In the withdrawn petition, Nakacinda had asked the court to declare the offence of sedition unconstitutional, describing the provision as an archaic colonial-era tool being used to suppress dissent and criticism of the government.
Read more: PF Secretary-General, Nakacinda, denied bail pending appeal
He cited Attorney-General Mulilo Kabesha as respondent and argued that his arrest and prosecution—sanctioned by Director of Public Prosecutions Gilbert Phiri—violated his rights under the Bill of Rights.
Nakacinda is currently on trial in the Lusaka Subordinate Court on two counts of seditious practices.
The charges relate to statements he allegedly made between September 26 and 27, 2024, on Kanele 97.7 FM’s Facebook page, in which he claimed President Hakainde Hichilema had ordered investigative agencies to raid former president Edgar Lungu’s residence to divert public attention from a Constitutional Court case.
In a separate case before Magistrate Mwandu Sakala, he is also charged with sedition over remarks allegedly made on Millennium Radio’s Facebook page on August 21, 2024, accusing the UPND government of “undertaking genocide” through the importation of aflatoxin-contaminated maize.
Despite the withdrawal of his constitutional petition, the criminal proceedings against Nakacinda in the subordinate court remain active.
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