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NGO activist released on bail
The Zimbabwean
July 29, 2008

View article on the Zimbabwean website

Peter Muchengeti, an activist based in Gweru, has been released by a Gweru magistrate Rosa Chakuva on bail of 2 trillion dollars after having been detained since last Friday when he was picked up by state security agents.

Muchengeti, the regional chairman of the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations, is being charged with possessing documents prejudicial to the state and for spreading falsehoods in connection with documents found in his office detailing incidents of political violence, pictures showing the victims and the names of the perpetrators. Relating his ordeal, Muchengeti, said that he was interrogated naked and suspended upside down, an issue raised during the hearing. He also said that one of his interrogators was an army officer identified as Lt Col. Kahuni which he said was highly irregular. Agents ransacked his office which had been closed since June after police ordered all NGOs closed on the basis of a letter from the Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Nicholas Goche suspending their field operations.

During the raid board members and staff were chased out. The raiders took documents and equipment that included computers, digital cameras and recorders that belonged to Kudzai Musengi, a journalist, who was working from Muchengeti's office. Also affected were four victims from Nkayi who had come for treatment after being assaulted at a Zanu PF base. They apparently had with them police case reports confirming the assaults at the base that has since been moved into Nkayi police camp. The case is going to be heard on the 25th of August and Muchengeti's bail conditions include reporting to Gweru Central police station twice a week. Peter Muchengeti is among a list of activists that had been targeted at a meeting of security officials in Gweru last June. His movements were being watched resulting in him going underground in the past weeks until his arrest. His arrest last Friday led to most activists based in Gweru fleeing the city in fear.

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