The Chairman of the CHADEMA party, Honourable Tundu Antiphas Lissu, has formally appealed to the Court of Appeal of Tanzania against the four-year prison sentence imposed on him on November 6, 2026.
The notice of appeal was filed by his lawyer, Dr. Rugemeleza Nshala, on November 7, 2026, in the Dar es Salaam Zone. It strongly challenges the decision delivered by the panel of High Court judges — Judge D.B. Ndunguru, Judge J.M. Karayemaha, and Judge F.M. Kiwonde — in Criminal Case No. 00019605 of 2025.
In that case, which took 19 months of hearings, the prosecution had charged Lissu with treason over remarks he made on April 3, 2025, in Dar es Salaam, in which he demanded electoral reforms before participating in the general election. However, the court dropped that charge after the prosecution failed to prove it. Instead, the court, on its own, changed the charge and convicted him of sedition contrary to Section 390 of the Penal Code, and ultimately sentenced him to four years in prison.
Through the appeal, Lissu is challenging the court’s decision to change the charge and impose the sentence without following the proper legal principles that would have enabled the defence to prepare. Copies of the notice have already been served on the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Deputy Registrar of the High Court of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam.
