April 16 (UPI) -- South African politician Julius Malema was sentenced to five years in prison for illegal possession of a firearm and firing a rifle into the air at a political rally.
Malema, 45, fired the gun at the rally in 2018 celebrating the fifth anniversary of the party in KuGompo City, then known as East London. Malema and his lawyers are appealing.
A prison sentence longer than 12 months would disqualify him from parliament. But that would only happen after all his appeals were exhausted.
Defense lawyers argued that Malema was just celebrating and there were no injuries. Malema told the court the gun didn't belong to him and that he had fired the shots to energize the crowd, SowetanLIVE reported at the time.
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