Threatened State of Public  Emergency victim Collins Sitali,  narrates how he endured 22 days   in police custody for gutting City Market,  the arson case he did not commit.

Speaking before a consortium of 28 Civil Society Organisation(CSO) petitioned the National Assembly, demanding the revocation of the Threatened State of Public Emergency, Sitali said he was  tortured like a common criminal  while in custody.

He said what pained him most was the fact  that he was released from detention without being taken to court.

He said up to date, he does not walk freely the streets of Lusaka because of fear of being attacked by residents because of the arsonist tag police placed on him.

Sitali said if he had been taken  to court, his   arson charge was going  to be cleared and that  he was going to be vindicated.

Sitali said the only crime he committed was belonging to the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND).

“The threatened State of Public Emergency has only tended to the arrest of opposition figures especially those of us belonging to the UPND. I recall how I was picked from my home in Matero by 5 Police officers who later took me to Force Headquarters where I was querried on how I spent my four days holiday. That was on July 9th, 2017. Thereafter I was detained at Lilayi Police for over a week.

“On 18th July, 2017, I was taken to a place near Sikanze Police Camp by a Mr Kakoma (Inspector) who told me that there was an eye witness who saw someone set City Market ablaze but when the deaf eye witness failed to point at any one of us, we were taken back to Lilayi Police were we were detained.

“After spending about 15 days in detention, on 23rd July, I was formally charged for arson and we expected to be taken to court and be tried. When that didn’t happen, we staged an hunger strike to compel the police to take us to court and on 28th July, 2017, we broke the strike after being told we would be taken to court. But to our surprise, on the very day, we were told we were being released on light of the reconciliation talks between Mr Hichilema and Edgar Lungu,” narrated Sitali.

It is believed there are over 6000 detainees in Zambian prisons, mostly those from the UPND and many political players in Zambia believe that the invocation of Article 31 by President Lungu was aimed at silencing the opposition and forcing them to accept the outcome of the 2016 General Elections.