News / National
MDC youth leaders fight for freedom
08 Feb 2021 at 19:11hrs | Views
MDC Alliance youth leaders Joana Mamombe and Cecilia Chimbiri have applied for bail at the High Court seeking to overturn a decision by the lower court which remanded them in custody last week.
Represented by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, the duo's hearing has been set for today before Justice Webster Chinamora.
The two are in custody accused of undermining the authority of the police by allegedly shouting at police officers.
It is alleged that on February 1, the two together with Netsai Marova, who was released without charge, came across a police vehicle carrying suspects and started shouting at the law enforcement agents.
It is alleged they were saying the police officers risked infecting the suspects with Covis-19.
Prosecutors opposed their admission to bail saying the duo were undermining the bail system by committing offences while out on remand on two other charges.
Regional magistrate Stanford Mambanje said the two have shown that they have a penchant for defying the law and this had weighed against them.
"Conditions on previous bail did not deter them from having a brush with the law.
"They have shown they have a penchant of defying the law and this would heavily weigh against their bid for pre-trial freedom," Mambanje said.
The magistrate said there is no evidence that they would not commit further offences while on bail.
Through their lawyer Charles Kwaramba, the two argued they were proper candidates for bail, who had been maliciously arrested on flimsy charges.
He said they were arrested on suspicion that they were at a demonstration that had occurred in the central business district earlier in the day.
Kwaramba added that the charges were cooked up after the police discovered that they were nowhere near the said demonstration.
"The only reason why they were arrested is that there was a demonstration in town and the police thought they were there and called for backup and searched their vehicle for placards.
"The reason was to link them to the demonstration and the police are embarrassed to say they were wrong and are now cooking up charges," he submitted.
He averred that the two are being harassed for being women in politics.
Represented by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, the duo's hearing has been set for today before Justice Webster Chinamora.
The two are in custody accused of undermining the authority of the police by allegedly shouting at police officers.
It is alleged that on February 1, the two together with Netsai Marova, who was released without charge, came across a police vehicle carrying suspects and started shouting at the law enforcement agents.
It is alleged they were saying the police officers risked infecting the suspects with Covis-19.
Prosecutors opposed their admission to bail saying the duo were undermining the bail system by committing offences while out on remand on two other charges.
Regional magistrate Stanford Mambanje said the two have shown that they have a penchant for defying the law and this had weighed against them.
"Conditions on previous bail did not deter them from having a brush with the law.
"They have shown they have a penchant of defying the law and this would heavily weigh against their bid for pre-trial freedom," Mambanje said.
The magistrate said there is no evidence that they would not commit further offences while on bail.
Through their lawyer Charles Kwaramba, the two argued they were proper candidates for bail, who had been maliciously arrested on flimsy charges.
He said they were arrested on suspicion that they were at a demonstration that had occurred in the central business district earlier in the day.
Kwaramba added that the charges were cooked up after the police discovered that they were nowhere near the said demonstration.
"The only reason why they were arrested is that there was a demonstration in town and the police thought they were there and called for backup and searched their vehicle for placards.
"The reason was to link them to the demonstration and the police are embarrassed to say they were wrong and are now cooking up charges," he submitted.
He averred that the two are being harassed for being women in politics.
Source - dailynews
