246 People Removed from Death Rows in Zambia
Good news
President Edgar Lungo announced, on 27 January 2021, that 246 death sentences had been commuted into life, a more than welcome decision that has brought the overall number of commutations to over 500 since 2015.
The decision, President Edgar Lungo argued, will contribute to decongesting overcrowded death rows, in an attempt to protect prisoners from being exposed to COVID-19.
Although Zambian criminal law still provides for the death penalty, the last known execution took place in 1997, making the country abolitionist practice.
Source: Xinhuanet
