UN Special Rapporteur Urges Zambia to End Post-Election Crackdown, Names Mundubile and Zulu Directly

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, Gina Romero, has issued a strongly worded statement calling on the Zambian government to immediately end what she described as a post-election crackdown and release all political detainees, directly naming NRPUP's Brian Mundubile and Makebi Zulu among those she says face "concocted charges" of treason.

In a statement issued in Geneva and confirmed by OHCHR, Romero said she was "gravely concerned" over what she called a deteriorating democratic and human rights environment in Zambia following the general election. She said reports indicate systemic violations including widespread intimidation and the arrest of hundreds of opposition supporters, many held beyond legally mandated timeframes without formal charges. "Concocted charges of treason, a capital offense, against senior opposition alliance leadership set a dangerous precedent," she said, adding that the escalation of violence and loss of life, "including of a former cabinet minister and polling agent," required immediate international scrutiny, an apparent reference to the death of former Lunte MP Mutotwe Kafwaya, a case MUVI has covered extensively.

Romero said her office had already raised concerns about attacks on political opponents in an earlier official communication to the Zambian government, and had been in contact with authorities over pre-election warning signs in the months before the vote. She noted that a separate UN expert, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, had raised similar concerns in a 2025 report.

"This crisis reflects a broader pattern of shrinking civic space," Romero said. "The pattern of restrictions includes arbitrary arrests of opposition leaders, parliamentarians, and civil society actors on charges that were often disproportionate and legally ambiguous." She pointed to government's de facto cancellation of RightsCon, a major international technology and human rights gathering that had been scheduled to take place in Lusaka in May, as further evidence of the pattern, and said arbitrary detentions and disproportionate charges, including sedition and espionage, violate international human rights standards under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. "A healthy democracy requires that all voices, including opposition members, religious leaders, civil society actors, and journalists, speak freely without fear," she said. "Authorities must release all political detainees, respect fundamental freedoms, and restore democratic accountability." Romero said she remains in contact with Zambian authorities on the matter.

A FACTUAL POINT WORTH FLAGGING

Romero's statement describes treason as "a capital offense" under Zambian law. That characterisation does not match Zambia's current legal position. As MUVI reported in an earlier explainer, Parliament passed the Penal Code (Amendment) Act No. 23 of 2022 in December of that year, replacing the mandatory death penalty for treason with mandatory life imprisonment, as part of Zambia's broader abolition of capital punishment. Whether the Special Rapporteur's statement reflects outdated information or a different characterisation of the law, treason in Zambia today carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, not death, though it remains non-bailable and triable only in the High Court, both facts that make the underlying concern about prolonged pre-trial detention legitimate regardless of the capital-punishment point.

GOVERNMENT'S POSITION

Zambian authorities have previously rejected characterisations of a post-election crisis. Separate reporting referenced alongside Romero's statement notes that the Presidency has said there is no post-election crisis in Zambia. MUVI has sought comment from the Zambian government specifically on Romero's statement and will update this report with any response. Mundubile and Zulu have been formally charged with treason and deny the charges, a case MUVI continues to follow closely alongside the eleven other people held in connection with the Kabulonga security operation.