Source: Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
Magistrate Vakayi Chikwekwe will on Thursday 7 July make a ruling on the bail application made by Epworth and Mabvuku residents who are being charged with Public Violence as defined under section 36(1) of the Criminal Law and Codification and Reform Act Chapter 9:23.
The 105 residents who were arrested on Monday 4 July, 2016 following the demonstrations in Harare’s poor high density suburbs of Epworth and Mabvuku over police corruption and the $200 fine regime gazette through Statutory Instrument 41 of 2016 appeared before the Courts on the 7th of July 2016.
Magistrate Chikwekwe ordered the release of one of the accused persons Thomas Gada of Epworth after the police and Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) officials failed to bring him before the Courts within 48 hours as specified in section 50 of the constitution. Lawyers deployed by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) Jeremiah Bamu, Trust Maanda and Gift Mtisi to offer emergency services to the accused persons said their clients had been denied food since the time of their incarceration at around 9am.
The Court heard how 4 of the accused persons were minors who should not have been detained together with the other accused persons. They also raised a complaint over some of the accused persons who were mauled by dogs during the arrest but had not received medical attention.
Their bail hearing continues tomorrow, 7 July 2016 at 8 am.
Source: Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights