|
Back to Index
Victory:
Facebook trial spectacularly collapses as judge grants bail to residents
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
September 21, 2011
The case against
Bulawayo resident, Vikas Mavhudzi, accused of subversion because
of an alleged post on the social networking site facebook collapsed
on Tuesday 20 September 2011 after Magistrate Rose Dube threw away
the charges.
Magistrate Dube
threw away the charges after State prosecutor Jeremiah Mutsindikwa
failed to furnish the court with any evidence of the alleged message.
Mutsindikwa had pressed ahead with prosecution even though the police's
information technology experts had failed to retrieve the alleged
facebook posting by Mavhudzi.
Mavhudzi's
lawyer, Lizwe Jamela of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
had demanded to be furnished with the evidence allegedly posted
by the Magwegwe suburb resident praising the Egyptian uprising before
commencement of the trial.
Magistrate Dube
ordered the State to return the mobile handset to Mavhudzi. Mavhudzi
was arrested in February
2011 and charged with subverting a government by unconstitutional
means over a comment he allegedly made on Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's facebook page expressing his approval of the
protests in Egypt that led to the resignation of Hosni Mubarak as
president. He was granted bail after spending one month in prison
after his lawyers Jamela and Nosimilo Chanayiwa of ZLHR intervened.
Meanwhile, High
Court Judge, Justice Joseph Musakwa on Wednesday 21 September 2011,
granted bail to two Glenview residents Kerina Gweshe and Memory
Ncube, who were arrested on 7 September 2011 and charged with committing
murder for allegedly slaying a police officer, Inspector Petros
Mutedza. Justice Musakwa ordered the two to reside at their given
addresses and to report once a week on Monday to the police. The
Judge ordered Gweshe to surrender her passport.
Visit the ZLHR
fact
sheet
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
