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Mugabe can be insulted, rules Zimbabwe court

by Staff reporter
31 Oct 2013 at 16:01hrs | Views
Zimbabwe's Constitutional Court on Wednesday ruled that the section of the country's criminal law code that makes it a crime to insult President Robert Mugabe is unconstitutional.

This came out in the case in which prominent Zimbabwean artist Owen Maseko challenged his prosecution under that section of the law for paintings he exhibited in 2010.

Maseko was charged three years ago for insulting Mugabe and communicating falsehoods prejudicial to the state.

He was charged under those sections for paintings he exhibited in Bulawayo about the Gukurahundi killings in Matabeleland in the 1980s.

Maseko took his case to the Constitutional Court, which has now ruled that those laws contravene the right to freedom of expression.

This was an interim order.

This means Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa can come to court to try and change the judge's minds.

But Maseko's lawyer, Jeremiah Bamu, told Eyewitness News he thinks it's unlikely this will happen. - 

Source - Eyewitness
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