Zambia’s chief state prosecutor Lillian Siyunyi is fearing for her life after President Hakainde Hichilema’s government withdrew security details previously assigned to protect her, APA learnt here on Wednesday.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), who was appointed by the immediate-past president Edgar Lungu, has alleged fallen out of favour with the Hichilema administration and currently the subject of a Judicial Complaints Commission probe about her professional conduct.
She said she is living in fear of being attacked after receiving a number of threats in recent weeks and has had to escape from her home at least three times.
“I have had to escape from home on more than three occasions” after threats from known ‘operatives’, she said.
She has refused to appear before the judicial commission, arguing that her constitutional oath of secrecy first needed to be lifted by Hichilema before she could present herself before the body.
The prosecutor said if she responded to any of the charges against her before the lifting of her oath of secrecy, she would be breaking the constitution and committing a crime.
She said both Hichilema and Zambia’s attorney general had denied her request to clear her to disclose sensitive information about her official duties.
She complained that despite the waiver being denied, the judicial commission had proceeded with the hearing of the complaints against her.
JN/APA