Raphael Nakacinda, secretary general of the Patriotic Front, left Lusaka Central Correctional Facility — the prison Lusaka calls Chimbokaila — at about 09:00 on Wednesday 21 October, News Diggers reports. He had been in custody since 21 October 2025, when he surrendered to begin an 18-month sentence with hard labour for defaming President Hakainde Hichilema. The Zambian Observer reports that statutory remission for good behaviour reduced the term to twelve months, which is why his release fell one year to the day after he went in.
The conviction arose from remarks made between 18 and 22 April 2022, in which, according to News Diggers, Mr Nakacinda accused the President of interfering with the judiciary. The Zambian Observer’s account is that he alleged Mr Hichilema was summoning judges to his private residence to influence cases involving the PF. Lusaka magistrate Irene Wishimanga convicted him in May 2024, the Observer reports, and the Lusaka High Court upheld the conviction in October 2025. Criminal defamation of the President was repealed in December 2022; the courts held that the law still applied because the offence predated the repeal.
The scene at the gate
According to the Zambian Observer, PF supporters and members of the Tonse-Pamodzi Alliance gathered from dawn, many in party green, and lifted Mr Nakacinda onto their shoulders when he emerged. The Observer describes him as looking slightly thinner than when he went in.
Prison has not broken us; it has only refined our resolve.
— Raphael Nakacinda, PF secretary general, to supporters outside Lusaka Central Correctional Facility on Wednesday 21 October, as reported by the Zambian Observer
He went on, in words carried by the Observer, to say that he and his allies had entered the gates as “prisoners of justice” and emerged “ready to breathe fire to challenge this administration”. The ruling UPND’s position, as the Observer summarises it, is that Mr Nakacinda’s cases are matters of law and order rather than political persecution, and that the judiciary acted independently.
What else is on his file
The defamation term was not the only sentence he served. The Observer reports that in December 2025 Principal Magistrate Idah Phiri handed him a further six months with hard labour for hate speech over remarks about voters in Bweengwa, ordered to run concurrently, so that it did not lengthen his stay. News Diggers refers to hate-speech charges brought in 2023 over remarks about Tonga-speaking people without stating the outcome.
One matter remains open. Both outlets report that a count of seditious practices against him returns to the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court on 2 November; News Diggers says the court is due that day to rule on whether he has a case to answer. The Observer alone adds that he was convicted of a separate seditious-practices charge in August 2026, relating to statements about law-enforcement operations, and paid a K2,400 fine rather than serve more time; Lusaka Brief has not found that reported elsewhere.
Key dates, as reported
- 18–22 April 2022 — the remarks about the President and the judiciary (News Diggers)
- December 2022 — criminal defamation of the President repealed (Zambian Observer)
- May 2024 — convicted by magistrate Irene Wishimanga (Zambian Observer)
- 21 October 2025 — surrenders after the High Court upholds the conviction (Zambian Observer)
- December 2025 — concurrent six-month hate-speech sentence (Zambian Observer)
- 21 October 2026 — released from Chimbokaila (News Diggers, Zambian Observer)
- 2 November 2026 — ruling due on the seditious-practices count (News Diggers, Zambian Observer)
Confirmed vs. alleged
Confirmed: That Mr Nakacinda was released on Wednesday 21 October after serving a sentence for defaming the President, and that a seditious-practices count returns to court on 2 November, is reported by both News Diggers and the Zambian Observer. The 18-month sentence, the 2022 remarks and the upholding of the conviction in October 2025 are reported by both.
Alleged or unverified: The August 2026 sedition conviction and K2,400 fine, the Bweengwa hate-speech sentence and the remission arithmetic come from the Zambian Observer alone. News Diggers’ full account is behind its paywall. No statement from the PF or the Government on the release had been published by either outlet at the time of writing.
Sources: News Diggers, “Nakacinda walks free after jail term” (22 Oct 2026); Zambian Observer, “Raphael Nakacinda walks free, vows to amplify political battle against UPND” (21 Oct 2026); Zambian Observer, “Rapheal Nakacinda released from jail after serving his sentence on charges of defaming President Hichilema” (21 Oct 2026).