BULAWAYO – Prosecutors on Thursday withdrew before plea incitement of violence charges against Advent Mathuthu, the nephew of ZimLive editor Mduduzi Mathuthu after his docket mysteriously vanished.

Prosecutor Terence Chikabuda sought further remand when the 25-year-old appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Shepherd Mjanja, but defence lawyer Nqobani Sithole insisted on being given a trial date or freedom for his client.

Chikabuda explained to the court that the docket could not be found, and he needed more time to make enquiries with the police.

The matter was stood down for the afternoon.

When court resumed sitting, Chikabuda informed Mjanja that the docket was with a police officer who could not be located.

“The state if of the opinion that there would be no prejudice if accused is removed from remand,” Chikabuda said, before magistrate Mjanja turned to Advent and told him he was a free man.

The magistrate also ordered police to release his BMW which had been seized during the arrest.

Advent, who works at a family-run aluminium fabrication business, was seized outside a hardware shop on July 30, the eve of planned anti-government protests.

He and two other nephews of the journalist had been stalked by men driving in at least five vehicles. Police said they found 76 flyers with messages denouncing the government.

The MDC Alliance’s chair for the women’s assembly for Bulawayo province, Tendai Masotsha, was in the vehicle but was never charged.

Tawanda Muchehiwa, 22, was abducted and driven to an unknown destination where he was tortured for three days and released only when a court gave police a deadline to produce him.

He was dumped near his house before being taken to hospital suffering kidney failure and extensive injuries on his buttocks.

Lawyer Sithole, who is instructed by MISA, said the decision to drop charges against Advent was motivated by the security establishment’s determination to conceal the identities of the agents behind Muchehiwa’s abduction, which was caught on CCTV.

“It was going to unmask the persons behind Muchehiwa’s abduction. Arresting Advent Mathuthu, making him sleep in cells and then taking him to court on these ridiculous, trumped-up charges was an abuse of court process. You can’t do that to a citizen with rights, and then decide you’re no longer interested in the matter, you are withdrawing charges,” Sithole said.