Dear Editor

I would like to congratulate the LRF team for your publication of your Newsletter.

I am writing in connection to page 8 and 9 of the LRF Newsletter Number 18, July 2000, and other parts pertaining to the above issue.

I am concerned as a Zambian citizen hearing my own people being mistreated while we have in our country a set of laws and regulations made and approved by a people of sound mind. Police have no right to torture a suspect.

The Zambian criminal law has incorporated the fundamentals of English criminal law whose base is the concept of "actus non facit reum misi men it rea" which means the mere doing of something prohibited or wrong act will not constitute guilt unless there be a guilty mind.

It is not the police to find this guilty mind but the court. Therefore, I strongly feel police are not supposed to inflict any form of punishment but to leave every thing to the court of law.

Why should someone be tortured if the court has not tried him? They do not know if he is innocent or not. Police are there to promote human rights and not to take away people’s rights.

The law protects even if someone has murdered another. It is a matter or rather a question of whether murder has been committed and that the accused is the murderer. Before that, the law is just and fair. Why do police rush into torture even in straightforward cases. The law of evidence is the only tool they are to use if they want to have the accused prosecuted because it is the said law that determines the truth of the case not torture.

I want to thank the Police Spokesman, Mr. Lemmy Kajoba for his advice to police officers not to be emotional when doing their work and the advice he gave to the organisation which to me potrays a kind of a right thinking member of society. May he keep up with his spirit of justice.

I am strongly appealing to LRF to go out seeking justice for all. I am again commending LRF for a wonderful job you are doing. Please continue.

Yours Howard Mainza, Dambwa North, Livingstone.

Dear Editor

The establishment of LRF is a blessing through out Zambia especially to areas where LRF Advice centres are in existence. My strong advice to the public is that let us love and work closely with the LRF staff because they are risking their lives for the sake of us and they are rendering free legal services to us which is supposed to be done by our financially strapped government.

I commend the LRF staff and lawyer Mabvuto Sakala who attended the postmortem of the late Chisambwe Konga Malikopo who was found dead in police cells on 19th August at Los Angels Police Post in Lusaka.

Relatives of the deceased are not allowed to attend the postmortem but LRF lawyers take this risk on behalf of the bereaved families to make sure that a good report is obtained.

The lawyers do this in order to serve the poor citizens and I urge other lawyers to emulate from what Sakala did on Chisambwe’s death.

Viva LRF lawyers and staff, keep up the spirit of working for the needy.

Yours, Paul Malikopo, Lusaka.

Dear editor

Police officers in Livingstone are leading as far as torture of suspect is concern despite warnings by their officers in charge. Currently I was detained and tortured by the Livingstone central police. Whilst in the cells I discovered that these officer are just happy to torture people because they do not want to investigate cases but to torture suspects. When I was released from the cell, my friend gave me your newsletter and I read one of the articles, which says that police are not allowed to torture suspects. From my experience, most of these suspects are innocent. I wonder why police officers continue torturing suspects. I feel that police should do their work as expected and not to abuse other people’s because when you are taken to the cells people stops giving you the respect that you deserve and thinks that you are a criminal. . I congratulate your organisation for making sure that even police officers follows the law.

Yours Faithfully, E chimpango, Livingstone

Dear Editor

I read your newsletter from a workmate last month. It has helped many Zambians to know their rights. What is required most for the less privileged is coverage. I feel markets and bus station are the best places for distribution. If it could also be reaching remotest areas, translated into local languages and many less privileged citizens could know most of their rights. I eanerstly request you to open a centre in Chilanga where stories of police brutality are rampant. I reside in Chilanga and would wish such information could be extended to our places as well. If there is any subscription please let me know because I can not afford to miss such informative news in my life.

Yours Faithfully, George Nangana, Lusaka

Dear Editor

I would like to comment on one of the articles in Issue 15 of your Newsletter about prostitution.

I strongly support LRF chairperson Mr Simeza who is against the legalisation of prostitution in Zambia. I also conquer with the law he quoted that any person in public places who solicits for immoral purposes, and without lawful excuse and publicly does any indecent act is deemed idle and disorderly. I feel these women should make use of the gender opportunity, which has come in the Country than being idle and disorderly in their actions. I also feel that women should get educated and contribute much in the Country because they are a majority of the country’s population than being prostitutes. I would like to express my worry on the way women dress. Most of the indecent clothes that women wear are made by men who wear decent clothes themselves. My suggestion to women is that women should work up from sleep and fight for their rights.