Two Zambian gay men caught red-handed while having sex in 2017 have been sentenced to 15 years in prison by the conservative country's court.
Japhet Chataba and Steven Samba who booked a lodge in Kapiri Mposhi community of central Zambia were arrested after a female worker alerted her colleagues after she peeped through the window and saw them having sex.
They were reportedly convicted in 2018 by Kapiri Mposhi Magistrates’ Court but they took the case to the high court. The High court judge, Charles Zulu however handed them a 15 year jail sentence after refusing to review the verdict of the lower court.
“The trial court cannot be faulted and there is no basis to review or substitute the conviction and I further find that there were no irregularities by the trial court,” Judge Zulu said, the state-owned Zambia Daily Mail newspaper quotes him as saying.
He said the defendants were convicted for “having sex against the order of nature” – the legal phrase used to describe gay sex.