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Judge reserves ruling on Manyere's bail application
MISA-Zimbabwe
May 08, 2009

High Court Judge, Justice November Mtshiya on 8 May 2009 reserved to 11 May 2009 judgement in the bail application of detained freelance photojournalist Andrisson Shadreck Manyere.

In his application for bail pending trial, Defence lawyer, Alec Muchadehama, argued that the re-arrest of Manyere was improper and unlawful.

He further submitted that the pending appeal submitted before the Supreme Court by the State against the judgement by Justice Charles Hungwe to commit Manyere to bail on 17 April 2009was now more of an academic argument, as it has now been overtaken by events such as the indictment of the accused.

The indictment made it possible for Manyere to apply for bail on the grounds of changed circumstances.

However, State Prosecutor, Chris Mutangadura, argued otherwise, stating that the bail application by Manyere was not properly before the court. He said that Manyere's release had been an administrative error made by the Registrar of the High Court who signed the orders of their release. He argued further that the bail granted by Justice Hungwe had automatically been suspended by the subsequent filing of the appeal by the State.

The Judge stated that he needed more time to go through the arguments raised by both parties before delivering his judgement and reserved it to 11 May 2009.

Background

Manyere is charged under section 23 (1), (2) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act which criminalises acts of insurgence, banditry, sabotage or terrorism or alternatively Section 143 of the same Act which relates to aggravating circumstances in relation to malicious damage to property. He was admitted to bail by Justice Hungwe on 9 April 2009 and released on 17 April 2009, after spending almost 4 months at Chikurubi Maximum Prison, only to be re-detained within two weeks of his release.

Manyere is currently detained at a Harare hospital as he fell seriously ill after his release on bail on 17 April 2009.

On 5 May 2009 Manyere, Mukoko and 14 other alleged saboteurs had their bail conditions revoked by Magistrate Catherine Chimanda who ruled that the court had no jurisdiction to entertain the matter. She also ruled that the indictment of the accused automatically suspended their bail and consequently remanded them in custody.

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