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Freedom of expression on trial
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
September 25, 2006

The Trustees of the Voice of the People (VOP) will be standing trial this week beginning 25 September 2006. We believe the trial will take place in Court Room 4( if this is not so, the court clerk will advise you upon arrival) at the Rotten Row Court in Harare, Zimbabwe at 8 am.

In Solidarity, we kindly request your attendance of at the Court….and join other fellow friends in giving support to the VOP trustees

The trustees are being represented by Beatrice Mtetwa of Kantor & Immerman – a Law Society Councillor and Board Member of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights

Background
On 15 December 2005 at around 16h00 members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) led by DETECTIVE ASSISTANT MUKWAIRA and DETECTIVE INSPECTOR MANGWIRO, acting on the instructions of a SUPERINTENDENT TAVAZIVA, and accompanied by around nine unidentified police details, descended upon the offices of VOP armed with a search warrant for the search and seizure of "radio broadcasting communication equipment and its associated accessories to include: computer hardware, software and any documents related to the activities of the radio station. Three women MARIA NYANYIWA, NYASHA BOSHA and KUNDAI MUGWANDA were arrested and detained for four days; they were released without charge after the office of the Attorney General declined to prosecute them.

They had been taken in as ransom, in order to persuade the Director of VOP, JOHN MASUKU, to turn himself in. On the 19th of December 2005, John Masuku and David Masunda, the Chairperson of the VOP reported to the police station in the company of their lawyers TAFADZWA MUGABE and RANGU NYAMURUNDIRA. Masunda was not detained, however Masuku was then detained for four days only to appear in court on the 23rd of December 2005, to answer to charges of contravening Section 27 of the Broadcasting Services Act. Masuku is currently out of custody on a ZW$ 4 million bail and reports every Friday to the Law and Order Section at Harare Central Police Station. During that same period the DETECTIVE INSPECTOR MAVUNDA indicated the intention of the police to interrogate the Board of Trustees of VOP.  

Arrests of the Trustees
The trustees of the Voice of the People presented themselves at the Law and Order section of the Harare Central police station at 08h00 on Tuesday 24 January 2006. The trustees are David Masunda, Arnold Tsunga, Lawrence Chibwe, Nhlanhla Ngwenya, Millicent Phiri and Isabella Matambanadzo. This followed raids carried out at the homes of two of the trustees (Arnold Tsunga and Nhlanhla Ngwenya) on Saturday and the unlawful arrest and detention of two persons, Emmanuel Kamba (an employee of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights) and Charles Nyamufukudzwa (a caretaker at the residence of Arnold Tsunga), who were present when the police unlawfully entered Tsunga’s property.

The Charges
The trustees signed warned and cautioned statements in relation to an investigation of an alleged contravention of section 7(1) as read with paragraph (4) and (5) of the Broadcasting Services Act, which they denied. The relevant sections read as follows:

7 Broadcasting and signal carrier licences
(1) Subject to this Act, and the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation Act [Chapter 12:01], no person shall provide a broadcasting service or operate as a signal carrier in Zimbabwe except in accordance with a broadcasting licence or a signal carrier licence, as the case may be…

(4) Any person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and liable to?
(a) a fine not exceeding five million dollars or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years, where the offence involves the unlicensed provision of any broadcasting service referred to in paragraphs (a) to (f) of subsection (2); or
(b) a fine not exceeding level ten or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months, where the offence involves the unlicensed provision of any broadcasting service referred to in paragraphs (g) to (j) of subsection (2)
or to both such fine and such imprisonment.
(5) In addition to any punishment it may impose under subsection (4) and without derogation from its powers under any enactment, a court convicting a person of contravening subsection (1) shall declare forfeited to the State any equipment or apparatus used for the purpose of or in connection with the offence.

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