Coup plotters released

The Zambian government released 14 coup plotters this week after they completed their commuted sentences at Mukobeko Maximum Prison in Kabwe, about 150 kilometres north of the capital, Lusaka. President Levy Mwanawasa, an anti-death penalty advocate, commuted the death sentences of 22 convicted plotters to prison sentences last month. The 14 junior soldiers were convicted for their role in a foiled 1997 military coup against then president Frederick Chiluba. They were released after serving one-third of their 10-year prison sentences. "These 14 have completed their terms after the presidential pardon, hence their release," said senior prisons officer Mukosha Silwamba. The mastermind of the failed coup, Captain Jack Chiti, was released last week on humanitarian grounds. He has been diagnosed with cancer.