Article 18. [Provisions to secure protection of law]
(1) If any person is charged with a criminal offence, then, unless the charge is withdrawn, the case shall be afforded a fair hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial court established by law.
(2) Every person who is charged with a criminal offence --
(a) shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proved or has pleaded guilty ;
(b) shall be informed as soon as reasonably practicable, in a language that he understands and in detail, of the nature of the offence charged ;
(c) shall be given adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence ;
(d) shall unless legal aid is granted him in accordance with the law enacted by Parliament for such purpose be permitted to defend himself before the court in person, or at his own expense, by a legal representative of his own choice ;
(e) shall be afforded facilities to examine in person or by his legal representative the witnesses called by the prosecution before the court, and to obtain the attendance and carry out the examination of witnesses to testify on his behalf before the court on the same conditions as those applying to witnesses called by the prosecution ; and
(f) shall be permitted to have without payment the assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand the language used at the trial of the charge ;
and except with his own consent the trial shall not take place in his absence unless he so conducts himself as to render the continuance of the proceedings in his presence impracticable and the court has ordered him to be removed and the trial to proceed in his absence.
(3) When a person is tried for any criminal offence, the accused person or any person authorized by him in that behalf shall, if he so requires and subject to payment of such reasonable fee as may be prescribed by law, be given within a reasonable time after judgment a copy for the use of the accused person of any record of the proceedings made by or on behalf of the court.
(4) No person shall be held to be guilty of a criminal offence on account of any act or omission that did not, at the time it took place, constitute such an offence, and no penalty shall be imposed for any criminal offence that is severer in degree or description that the maximum penalty that might have been imposed for that offence at the time it was committed.
(5) No person who shows that he has been tried by a competent court for a criminal offence and either convicted or acquitted shall again be tried for that offence or for any other criminal offence of which he could have been convicted at the trial for that offence, except upon the order of a superior court in the course of appeal or review proceedings relating to the conviction or acquittal.
(6) No person shall be tried for a criminal offence if he shows that he has been pardoned for that offence.
(7) No person who is tried for a criminal offence shall be compelled to give evidence at the trial.
(8) No person shall be convicted of a criminal offence unless that offence is defined and the penalty is prescribed in a written law :
Provided that nothing in this clause shall prevent a court of record from punishing any person for contempt of itself notwithstanding that the act or omission constituting the contempt is not defined in written law and the penalty therefore is not so prescribed.
(9) Any court or other adjudicating authority prescribed by law for the determination of the existence or extent of any civil right or obligation shall be established by law and shall be independent and impartial ; and where proceedings for such a determination are instituted by any person before such a court or other adjudicating authority, the case shall be given a fair hearing within a reasonable time.
(10) Except with the agreement of all the parties thereto, all proceedings of every court and proceedings for the determination of the existence or extent of any civil right or obligation before any other adjudicating authority, including the announcement of the decision of the court or other authority, shall be held in public.
(11) Nothing in clause (10) shall prevent the court or other adjudicating authority from excluding from the proceedings persons other than the parties thereto and their legal representatives to such extent as the court or other authority --
(a) may consider necessary or expedient in circumstances where publicity would prejudice the interest of justice or in interlocutory proceedings ; or
(b) may be empowered by law to do in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality, the welfare of persons under the age of eighteen years or the protection of the private lives of persons concerned in the proceedings.
(12) Nothing contained in or done under the authority of any law shall be held to be inconsistent with or in contravention of --
(a) paragraph (a) of clause (2) to the extent that it is shown that the law in question imposes upon any person charged with a criminal offence the burden of proving particular facts ;
(b) paragraph (d) of clause (2) to the extent that it is shown that the law in question prohibits legal representation before a subordinate court in proceedings for an offence under Zambian customary law, being proceedings against any person who, under that law, is subject to that law ;
(c) paragraph (e) of clause (2) to the extent that it is shown that the law in question imposes reasonable conditions that must be satisfied if witnesses called to testify on behalf of an accused person are to be paid their expenses out of public funds ;
(d) clause (2) to the extent that it is shown that the law provides that --
(i) where the trial of any person for any offence prescribed by or under the law has been adjourned and the accused, having pleaded to the charge, fails to appear at the time fixed by the court for the resumption of his trial after the adjournment, the proceedings may continue notwithstanding the absence of the accused if the court, being satisfied that, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, it is just and reasonable so to do, so orders ; and
(ii) the court shall set aside any conviction or sentence pronounced in the absence of the accused in respect of that offence if the accused satisfies the court without undue delay that the cause of his absence was reasonable and that he had a valid defence to the charge ;
(e) clause (2) to the extent that it is shown that the law provides that a trial of a body corporate may take place in the absence of any representative of the body corporate upon a charge in respect of which a plea of not guilty has been entered by the court ;
(f) clause (5) to the extent that it is shown that the law in question authorises a court to try a member of a disciplined forced for a criminal offence notwithstanding any trial and conviction or acquittal of that member under the disciplinary law of that force, so, however, that any court so trying such a member and convicting him shall in sentencing him to any punishment take into account any punishment awarded him under that disciplinary law.
(13) In the case of any person who is held in lawful detention, clause (1), paragraphs (d) and (e) of clause (2) and clause (3) shall not apply in relation to his trial for a criminal offence under the law regulating the discipline of persons held in detention.
(14) In its application to a body corporate clause (2) shall have effect as if the words "in person or" were omitted from paragraph (d) and (e).
(15) In this Article "criminal offence" means a criminal offence under the law in force in Zambia.
EDIT.