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Editor's refusal of further remand application rejected
MISA-Zimbabwe
September 03, 2008

Harare Magistrate Morgan Nemadire rejected an application of refusal of further remand by the Standard Newspaper editor, Davison Maruziva who is being jointly charged with the Standard Newspaper and the leader of the other formation of the Movement for Democratic Change, Professor Arthur Mutambara for publishing falsehoods prejudicial to the state and contempt of court.

Nemadire discarded the application made by the defence counsel on the basis that the application was 'premature and its basis unclear.'

The newspaper and its editor were consequently remanded out of custody to 22 September 2008 while their co-accused, Professor Mutambara was earlier this month remanded to September 8 to allow him to travel to the United States of America on business. However, the defence counsel for the newspaper and its editor, represented by Advocacy Eric Morris and Deepak Mehta respectively, said they were not consulted on the new date of September 8, 2008.

Background

The three are charged under Section 31 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.

The matter arises from an opinion piece written by MDC's Professor Arthur Mutambara, published in the weekly, The Standard newspaper of April 20, 2008 under the headline: A shameful betrayal of national Independence.

The Standard newspaper is being represented by the Group Projects Editor, Iden Witherell.

Harare Magistrate Morgan Nemadire on 6 August 2008 postponed the case to 8 September 2008 after the trio made an unscheduled appearance in court with an application to have the matter moved forward as Mutambara would not be in the country.

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