A Zambian court on Monday sentenced two allies of dead ex-President Edgar Lungu to two years in the joint for casting spells against Lungu’s hated longtime rival and successor President Hakainde Hichilema, the BBC reports. Jasten Mabulesse Candunde, 42, and Leonard Phiri, 43, were hired by Lungu minion Nelson Banda – brother of fugitive former lawmaker Jay Banda, who escaped from a hospital last year – to sacrifice small animals as part of a ritual to hex Hichilema and kill him.
“It is my considered view that the convicts were not only the enemy of the head of state but were also enemies of all Zambians… The two accepted ownership of the charms. Phiri further demonstrated that the chameleon’s tail, once pricked and used in the ritual, would cause death to occur within five days,” magistrate Fine Mayambu said in his ruling, later stressing that whether or not it actually worked – obviously it didn’t – was besides the point. “The question is not whether the accused are wizards or actually possess supernatural powers. It is whether they represented themselves as such, and the evidence clearly shows they did,” Mayambu told the courtroom.
The trial was the first ever prosecution for politically-motivated witchcraft, but the law against such practices dates back to 1914, during British colonial rule. Smart move keeping that on the books.