This archive report was first published on 22 December 2019.
On December 22, 2019, Zambian musician and activist Pilato was detained by police while attending a meeting on government corruption.
According to witnesses, Pilato and another man were picked up by officers who had gone to the Roman Catholic church centre where the meeting was being held.
Esther Katongo, a spokeswoman for the police service, stated that Pilato and others had been having a meeting with members of the public without notifying the police, and that he had been detained and arrested for the offence of unlawful assembly.
Pilato faces up to five years in jail if convicted.
Opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema called for Pilato's immediate and unconditional release, accusing the police of abusing the Public Order Act to advance the interests of the ruling Patriotic Front party.
This is not the first time Pilato has been arrested, having previously been detained in 2017 for picketing parliament over a fire engine contract and in May 2018 over his song 'Koswe Mumpoto', which was seen as an attack on President Edgar Lungu and his government.
