HARARE – Lawyers for journalist Hopewell Chin’ono told a court on Thursday that police had detained him beyond the 48 hours allowed by law before a suspect is brought to court, as they demanded that criminal charges against him be thrown out.
Chino’ono, 49, was arrested for the second time on Tuesday following his earlier arrest in July when he spent more than a month in prison being denied bail.
Charges prepared by prosecutors were not read in court on Thursday after defence lawyers said Chin’ono was illegally before the court, and therefore the court had no jurisdiction to remand him. Magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa said he had to hear prosecution submissions before ruling on the matter but there was no time for arguments as the courts were closing for business.
Chin’ono was transported to prison, to return to court on Friday.
Defence lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa said Chin’ono was arrested at 5.10PM on Tuesday, but the court only sat at 5.32PM on Thursday – more than 20 minutes after the 48 hours expired.
“The police have falsified court documents by stating that he was arrested at 6PM. We spent the entire day yesterday (Wednesday) at Law and Order and they recorded two statements from him. We spent the entire day today since 8AM at Law and Order and it was only at 3.30PM that they sought to record an additional statement from him,” Mtetwa said.
“They would not tell us why they were taking so long to bring him to court. There was no investigation whatsoever before the arrest.”
Chin’ono faces charges of defeating or obstructing the course of justice over Twitter comments he made about the National Prosecuting Authority on October 27.
Henrietta Rushwaya, claimed to be a niece of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, had been arrested a day earlier at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport attempting to smuggle 6kg of gold in her handbag.
In a tweet, Chin’ono said: “As I told you last night after my NPA sources had briefed me, the NPA led by Prosecutor General Kumbirai Hodzi who is reported to be close to Henrietta Rushwaya did not oppose bail. This is someone who wanted to criminally smuggle gold worth US$370,000. What a Banana Republic!”
The NPA says he “intended the statement to prejudice a matter of Henrietta Rushwaya and his own case which were pending at the Magistrate’s Court.”
The NPA initially consented to bail when Rushwaya appeared in court on October 27, but a magistrate refuse to rubberstamp the concession before hearing reasons. When she returned to court on October 28, the NPA had changed its stance and was now opposing bail.
Chin’ono, a freelance journalist, was first arrested in July on charges of writing in support of anti-government protests.
He was detained for more than a month at a maximum security prison until he was released on bail on September 2, with one of the conditions being that he stop posting on his Twitter account until his case was finalised.
But Chin’ono reactivated his Twitter account, which he has been using to write about corruption and criticising President Mnangagwa’s government.
His comments have been unusually outspoken for a journalist in Zimbabwe, where critics are often dealt with harshly.
The arrest of Chin’ono and dozens of activists has led to accusations that the government is persecuting critics, a charge the authorities deny.
Zimbabwe’s worst economic crisis in more than a decade is fuelling anger against Mnangagwa, who took over from the late Robert Mugabe after a coup two years ago, promising to revive the economy and greater freedoms for citizens.
