South African opposition politician Julius Malema was given a five-year prison sentence on Thursday for firing a rifle in the air at a rally, a magistrate’s court decided.
Malema, 45, is one of South Africa’s most prominent politicians.
He was convicted last year on five charges, including unlawful possession of a firearm and discharging a weapon in a public place, over the 2018 incident at a stadium in the Eastern Cape province.
Malema’s lawyers applied for leave to appeal the magistrate’s decision within minutes of it being read out in a court in KuGompo City, formerly East London.
The sentence, if confirmed after all appeals, would bar Malema from serving as a lawmaker.
That would be a major setback for Malema’s far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, which has strong support among young South Africans frustrated by the racial inequality that has persisted since the end of white minority rule in 1994.
The EFF is the fourth-biggest party in parliament.
Malema had pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
