South African opposition politician Julius Malema has been sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of the illegal possession of a firearm and discharging it in public.
Malema’s lawyer said he would be appealing against the decision to prevent the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) from being taken into custody. The length of the sentence could also see the 45-year-old disqualified as a Member of Parliament.
Standing in court in a dark suit and red tie, Malema showed little emotion as the magistrate read out the sentence.
Last year, he was convicted of five offences, including unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, discharging a weapon in a public space, and reckless endangerment.
The charges relate to an incident in 2018 when a video emerged showing Malema firing several shots into the air with a semi-automatic rifle during his party’s fifth anniversary celebrations in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province.
In his defence, Malema told the court the firearm was not his and that he fired the shots to rouse the crowd, South African news site SowetanLIVE reported at the time.
After being found guilty last October, Malema told supporters outside the court in East London that “going to prison or death is a badge of honour.”
“We cannot be scared of prison [or] to die for the revolution. Whatever they want to do, they must know we will never retreat.”
He also vowed to challenge the judgment up to South Africa’s highest court, the Constitutional Court.
Malema’s prosecution came after Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum, which has a contentious relationship with him and the EFF, opened a case following the viral video.
