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State withdraws charges against journalist
MISA-Zimbabwe
October 03, 2006

Mike Saburi a freelance cameraperson arrested together with leaders of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) ahead of last month’s planned nationwide demonstrations was on 3 October 2006 removed from remand after the State withdrew charges against him before plea.

The trial of the ZCTU leaders which was supposed to have opened in Harare on 3 October 2006 was, however, postponed to 17 October 2006.

Defence lawyer Aleck Muchadehama applied for the postponement. Muchadehama said some of the accused would not be able to follow the proceedings as they were still in serious pain following injuries they sustained after they were brutally assaulted by the police.

ZCTU secretary-general Wellington Chibhebhe was hospitalised following the assaults in police cells at the condemned Matapi Police Station in the high density suburb of Mbare. He has since been discharged and is recovering at home from multiple head injuries.

The trial magistrate also ordered the transfer of investigations into the alleged assaults from members of the uniformed police to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) saying the trial would commence while the investigations continue.

Muchadehama had also sought postponement of the trial pending the outcome of investigations into the alleged assaults.

Saburi was arrested on 13 September 2006 while filming armed riot police as they descended on the trade union leaders at the meeting point for the start of the protest marches in Harare’s central business district (CBD).

Saburi together with ZCTU President Lovemore Matombo and 28 other accused persons, were only released on 15 September 2006 after they were granted Zimdollars 20 000 (USd 80) bail each when they appeared in court on initial remand on charges of contravening Section 37 (1) (b) Chapter 9: 23 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform Act) which deals with conduct likely to breach public peace.

Background
The court heard how the police brutally assaulted the ZCTU leaders and the other accused persons some of whom wore slings and had bandaged arms when they appeared in court on 15 September 2006.

The assaults were so brutal that one of the accused, Lucia Matibenga, the vice president of the ZCTU, is feared to have shattered her eardrum during the ordeal.

Some of the accused were held at Matapi Police Station whose cells were condemned as inhuman and degrading by the Supreme Court and made to walk through raw sewage as they were brutally assaulted one by one by the police and other unknown persons.

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