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Mtetwa,
PM officials endure third night in detention
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
March 20, 2013
Human rights
lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa was on Tuesday 19 March 2013 condemned to
endure her third night in detention after Harare Provincial Magistrate,
Marehwanazvo Gofa remanded her in custody to Wednesday 20 March
2013.
Magistrate Gofa
remanded Mtetwa in custody to Wednesday 20 March 2013 to allow the
State representdd by Michael Reza to make its submissions in response
to the bail application filed by the feisty human rights lawyer’s
legal practitioners Advocate Thabani Mpofu, Harrison Nkomo and Dzimbabwe
Chimbga, who are all members of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.
Mtetwa’s
lawyers protested against the ill-treatment of their client while
in police custody. They accused the police of abusing their client
on Monday 18 March 2013, when two male police officers entered her
detention cell at Rhodesville Police Station in the dead of the
night and attempted to remove some blankets that covered her.
The lawyers
protested that the police had not allowed Mtetwa to take a bath
while in police custody and also denied her relatives, friends and
lawyers access to her.
The police,
the lawyers said interfered with Mtetwa’s privacy including
that of her clients by confiscating her mobile phone when they arrested
her in Harare’s Westgate suburb.
The lawyers
also protested against the circumstances and the illegal manner
in which the police executed the arrest
of Mtetwa, a lawyer who has been in practice for more than 30 years,
which was effected as she executed her professional duties of rendering
legal assistance to her clients.
Mtetwa was charged
with contravening Section 184 (1) (g) of the Criminal
Law (Codification and Reform) Act for allegedly defeating or
obstructing the course of justice.
In another case,
Magistrate Gofa on Tuesday 19 March 2013 also remanded to Wednesday
20 March 2013, the case of four of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
officials, who were arrested on Sunday 17 March 2013.
The four including
Thabani Mpofu, Felix Matsinde, Councillor Warship Dumba and Mehluli
Tshuma were charged with contravening Section 4 of Official
Secrets Act for allegedly receiving or communicating secret
information, Section 179 (1) of the Criminal Law (Codification and
Reform) for alleged impersonation and Section 40 (1) of the Criminal
Law (Codification and Reform) Act for possession of articles for
criminal use.
Magistrate Gofa
remanded Mpofu, Matsinde, Dumba and Tshuma in custody to Wednesday
20 March 2013 to allow Michael Mugabe, the Chief Law Officer in
the Attorney General’s Office to file his submissions in response
to the bail application filed by defence lawyers Alec Muchadehama
and Chris Mhike.
Mpofu is also
facing charges of contravening Section 4 (1) of the Firearms Act
for allegedly failing to renew a firearm certificate and Section
28 (2) of the Firearms Act for allegedly keeping a firearm in a
non-secure place.
Meanwhile, lawyers,
human rights activists and members packed the court room on Tuesday
as they attended and followed proceedings in solidarity with Mtetwa,
Mpofu, Matsinde, Dumba and Tshuma.
Visit the ZLHR
fact
sheet
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