Hichilema freed

LUSAKA: Zambia plans to drop treason charges against the country’s main opposition leader and freed him from prison yesterday under a deal brokered by the Commonwealth secretary-general, government and legal sources said.

The United Party for National Development leader Hakainde Hichilema and five others were charged with treason after Hichilema’s convoy failed to make way for President Edgar Lungu’s motorcade.

Hichilema’s trial had been due to begin yesterday in the capital Lusaka but two sources said the prosecution would apply to discontinue the case.