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Treason charges against Munyaradzi Gwisai & others - Index of articles
Release
of 39 activists, but 6 held in solitary confinement
Tichaona Sibanda, SW Radio Africa
March 07, 2011
http://www.swradioafrica.com/news070311/release070311.htm
A Harare magistrate on
Monday freed 39 activists, who had been detained and some of them
tortured, on allegations of involvement in trying to mobilize a
revolt against the government.
The 39 are part of a
group of 45 activists who were arrested in the capital on 19th February
while participating in an academic discussion about the uprising
in Egypt.
The meeting
was stormed by police who claimed the group, led by Munyaradzi Gwisai
of the International
Socialist Organization (ISO) Zimbabwe chapter, played videos
of the footage of the uprising in Egypt with the intention to inspire
similar protests in Zimbabwe.
Magistrate Munato Mutevedzi
dismissed the charges against 39 in the group, ruling there was
no reasonable suspicion that they had committed any offence, as
alleged by the state. Defence lawyer Alec Muchadehama had challenged
the state on Friday to establish watertight facts against his clients.
But Mutevedzi ruled that
former MDC-T legislator Gwisai and five others will face treason
charges, as he felt they had a case to answer. A treason charge
in Zimbabwe carries a death sentence.
The other activists who
were remanded in custody with Gwisai until 21st March are; Hopewell
Gumbo, Antonater Choto, Welcome Zimuto, Eddson Chakuma, and Tatenda
Mombeyarara. They are all being held in solitary confinement at
Chikurubi maximum security prison.
Earlier in their incarceration
some of the activists were tortured by state security agents, others
were denied access to medical doctors and medication. The arrests
have drawn international condemnation, including from the UN's
human rights chief.
On Monday in
Mutare the bail hearing of the MDC-T MP for Nyanga North Douglas
Mwonzora, plus 25 other party activists, was supposed to be held.
They were arrested two weeks ago on political violence charges,
but the hearing was postponed
to Wednesday, due to some 'missing papers.'
Defence lawyer David
Tandire told SW Radio Africa that the hearing was pushed to Wednesday
when prosecutors failed to produce original copies of his clients'
applications for bail.
'The prosecutors
brought photocopies of the documents which were not clear and the
magistrate ruled it would be improper to deal with the case not
using original documents. The original documents are in Nyanga so
the court was adjourned to Wednesday to allow the officials to get
hold of all the documents required,' Tandire said.
In Bulawayo,
four members of WOZA
who were arrested on Saturday were released without charge late
on Monday. WOZA claimed in a statement that their members were tortured
in police custody as they all have swollen faces. One of them, Nomsa
Sibanda, cannot use her hands to hold her baby.
WOZA and MOZA warned
that if the security services continue to arbitrarily arrest their
members, they will respond with more protests and expose those who
commit the torture. The pressure group called on South African President
Jacob Zuma and SADC leaders to help stop the violence in Zimbabwe.
'We wish to send
a stern message to the police force -there is no basis for
a state of emergency in Zimbabwe, be it official or unofficial.
According to the current constitution we have the right to protest
and assembly peacefully.
'If they want to
declare a state of emergency they will have to justify it in law
but the only people we see disturbing the peace are units of the
Zimbabwe Republic Police, namely riot squad, Police Internal Security
Intelligence (PISI) like Mdawini, Law and Order detectives based
at Bulawayo Central like George Levison Ngwenya,' the statement
from WOZA said.
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