Zimbabwe authorities target pro-democracy campaigners over anti-govt protest

ZIMBABWEAN authorities have summoned pro-democracy campaigner Lynette Mudehwe to stand trial on Thursday on charges of criminal nuisance for allegedly participating in an anti-government demonstration held almost two years ago.

Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) officers recently served Mudehwe, the leader of the Zimbabwe Activists Association with summons to appear at Harare Magistrates Court and answer to charges of criminal nuisance as defined in section 46 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23.

The ZRP officers claimed that Mudehwe, who is represented by David Hofisi of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, on 30 November 2015 entered Rainbow Towers, during proceedings of the International Conference on AIDS and STI's in Africa (ICASA), with intent to cause annoyance or disturbance of public peace or realising that there was real risk or possibility that her conduct would cause annoyance or disturb peace to the public.

While at the venue of the ICASA conference, the police alleged that Mudehwe started shouting and singing and thereby disrupting the smooth flow of the conference.

In March, Harare Magistrate Josephine Sande ordered the release of Mudehwe after she had been summoned to stand trial on similar charges. This was after finding that the summons served on her was fatally defective and this came after her lawyer, Hofisi, challenged the summons on the basis that it did not contain a charge as required by Section 140 (1) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act (Chapter 9:07).