Two Zambian police officers have been condemned to death by hanging for killing a suspect who was in custody.

In this case, Mastone Simweene and Muyunda Mufungulwa have been sentenced to death by hanging until pronounced dead by a medical practitioner.

The officers appealed against the sentences in the Court of Appeal, but their plea was dismissed for lack of merit.

According to evidence in the High Court, Simweene and Mufungulwa were convicted in Choma for killing Lemmy Mapeke.

The court heard that Obvious Muleya, a relative of the victim saw police officers beating Lemmy with a metal rod and this was also confirmed by the victim’s girlfriend, Maliya Maka, who was present at the police station.

On March 15, 2018, a suspect who was detained in the same police cells with Lemmy saw bruises and noticed that he was lifeless.

It was at this point that the two police officers took his body to Macha Hospital, where they claimed that he was very sick, but alert hospital officials noticed THAT he was dead