A court in Lusaka has sentenced two men to two years in prison with hard labor after convicting them of plotting to kill President Hakainde Hichilema using witchcraft, marking the first such trial against a sitting leader in the country.

Leonard Phiri, a 43-year-old Zambian, and Jasten Mabulesse Candunde, a 42-year-old Mozambican, were arrested in December 2024 at a hotel in the capital following a tip from a cleaner who heard unusual noises. Police recovered items including a live chameleon, an animal tail, a red cloth, and 12 bottles of unidentified concoctions, which the men allegedly planned to use in a ritual to cause Hichilema's death within five days.

Magistrate Fine Mayambu delivered the verdict on Monday, September 15, 2025, under Zambia's 1914 Witchcraft Act, which criminalizes practicing or pretending to use supernatural powers to harm others, with a maximum penalty of three years.

The men received concurrent two-year sentences for professing witchcraft and six months for possessing charms. Prosecutors claimed they were hired by the brother of opposition MP Emmanuel "Jay Jay" Banda, who faces separate charges of robbery and attempted murder, though this link remains unproven in court.

Phiri and Candunde had traveled from Mozambique and Zambia's Eastern Province, camping separately before their arrest. The case, Zambia's first witchcraft assassination attempt trial against a president, has drawn attention amid political tensions. Hichilema, who does not believe in witchcraft, has faced criticism from rights groups like Human Rights Watch for alleged crackdowns on free speech and opposition.

Witchcraft beliefs persist in Zambia, where 79% of the population holds such views per a 2018 study by the Zambia Law Development Commission, blending with the official Christian faith. The trial coincides with disputes over former President Edgar Lungu's funeral, where rumors of occult motives have circulated regarding government insistence on a state burial in Zambia against family wishes.