(MISA/IFEX) – On 8 April 1998, Dickson Jere, a reporter with “The Post”, who had been picked up by police for questioning, was released a few hours later without being charged. Reporter Amos Malupenga, who spoke to Jere at “The Post”‘s editorial offices after his release, told the Zambia Independent Media Association (ZIMA) that the […]
(MISA/IFEX) – On 8 April 1998, Dickson Jere, a reporter with “The Post”, who
had been picked up by police for questioning, was released a few hours later
without being charged. Reporter Amos Malupenga, who spoke to Jere at “The
Post”‘s editorial offices after his release, told the Zambia Independent
Media Association (ZIMA) that the reporter looked calm and did not appear to
have been subjected to any harsh treatment during almost three hours of
questioning. “He told us that the police wanted to know what he knew about
the 28 October 1997 coup attempt, how he got his story, whether he was
indeed the author of the story and if there was any information he knew
beyond what was published in “The Post” of 27 October 1997″, Malupenga told
ZIMA.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 8 April 1998, 24 and 29 December 1997**
Background Information
Jere had been sought by the police since December 1997, apparently in
connection with an interview he had with detained former Zambian President
Kenneth Kaunda and the subsequent story published in “The Post” on 27
October 1997.
The story quoted Kaunda, who warned of a political “explosion” in Zambia if
the prevailing political impasse was not resolved. A day after the story was
published, junior Zambian army officers announced a military take-over of
the government in a short-lived coup, which was crushed a few hours later by
government troops.
Kaunda, who left the country shortly after the interview with Jere, was
arrested upon his return on 25 December 1997. He has been charged with
misprisionment of treason. Following pleas from the international community,
Kaunda was removed from a congested maximum-security prison and placed under
house arrest at his private residence in Lusaka.
