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TechnoratiMalawi gay couple get maximum sentence
A gay couple convicted of “violating the natural order” after staging a symbolic wedding in Malawi have been sentenced to 14 years in prison with hard labour. The sentence is the longest that Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza could have received.
"I sentence you to 14 years imprisonment with hard labour each. That's the maximum under the penal code," said magistrate Nyakwawa Usiwa Usiwa.
"I will give you a scaring sentence so that the public be protected from people like you, so that we are not tempted to emulate this horrendous example.
"Malawi is not ready to see its sons getting married to its sons."
Homosexuality is illegal in Malawi and the pair were convicted of gross indecency on Tuesday. They have been in jail since holding the same-sex marriage on 28 December.
"We will sit down to see if they will need me to appeal at the high court," the men's lawyer Mauya Msuku said.
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