EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS SLAMMED
….Police must be held accountable for their appetite to kill citizens – Sean Tembo
By SIMON MUNTEMBA
THE police must be held accountable for extrajudicial killings of suspects on flimsy grounds, the Patriots for Economic Progress (PeP) has demanded.
PeP president Sean Tembo said police officers should not be allowed to abuse their powers by indiscriminately butchering citizens on flimsy grounds.
Mr Tembo said it was it was hypocrisy for Zambia to claim to be a Christian nation and to have suspended the death penalty when on the other hand Government was carrying out extrajudicial killings in the streets through the police.
“It is therefore important that the police be held accountable on how they use their powers and firearms. They should not be allowed to abuse in jeopardy. They must be held accountable for their appetite to kill citizens,” he said.
Mr Tembo also said the extrajudicial killings were more ominous than the death penalty because they were carried out without any trial, with higher chances of mistaken identity.
Take for instance, the recent shooting to death of two citizens in Mandevu Compound where the Police say they only fired two warning shots but they fail to explain how those warning shots ended up killing Mr Charles Chingombe and Mr Andrew Phiri.
He said in extreme circumstances, police officers can only shoot a suspect when he tries to run away from lawful custody, but that should be after firing warning shots in the air.
Mr Tembo also wondered why the police have been shooting suspects without any evidence of an exchange of gunfire.
He said it was worrying that barely weeks after police officers mistakenly shot and wounded a 27-year-old Lusaka pharmacist, who was with his wife, on the basis that he did not stop when ordered to do so, two citizens have been killed.
“The police should be physically fit to chase and capture suspected criminals so that they are brought before court and not kill people like they are killing goats in Chibolya Compound on a weekly basis. Government should reduce its appetite to kill our people through the police,” Mr Tembo said.
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