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Gwisai's lawyer doubts the identity of the state witness, Shoko
02 Nov 2011 at 20:10hrs | Views
Former MDC-T lawmaker, Munyaradzi Gwisai's lawyer, Alec Muchadehama, doubts the identity of the state witness Jonathan Shoko.
Muchadehama, a human rights lawyer who has represented MDC and human rights activists on several occasions, told the court yesterday that he suspects the case against Gwisai and five others to be a sting job to trap the suspects.
Gwisai and his co-accused initially faced treason charges for watching videos of the Arab Spring revolutions but the charges have since been reduced to conniving to incite and promote public violence.
Shoko, an undercover police officer who claims to have been part of the planning meeting, is the second state witness after Rinos Chari, who testified on September 14.
"In his testimony he testified that he sneaked into the meeting, so I want to ascertain if he did not also sneak into these proceedings," said Gwisai's lawyer Alec Muchadehama.
Muchadehama said this after prosecutor Edmore Nyazamba objected his line of questioning during cross examination.
Muchadehama requested for Shoko's force number, which he disputed and said was similar to those given to police officers that were admitted into the force in 1998, yet Shoko only started training in 2001, according to his evidence.
Shoko was further asked if he used a different name.
Muchadehama said they had made enquiries with the Criminal Intelligence Unit, a department Shoko claims to be part of and they were told that the name Jonathan Shoko did not exist in the department.
Shoko was further asked about his officer in charge's office number, which he said he was not aware of. He was also asked whether he was on Facebook or twitter, to which he denied.
The matter is expected to continue on Friday when Muchadehama will continue cross-examining Shoko.
Gwisai, 43, is jointly charged with Antonater Choto, 36, Tatenda Mombeyarara, 29, Edson Chakuma, 38, Hopewell Gumbo, 32 and Welcome Zimuto, 25.
Nyazamba told the court that the six convened a meeting at Zimbabwe Labour Centre in Harare, where they agreed to act in concert to forcibly and seriously disturb peace, security or order of the public in Zimbabwe on February 19 this year.
The state further alleges that they agreed to mobilise the people of Zimbabwe to revolt against the government and demand the resignation of the president of Zimbabwe after watching video footage of revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia.
Muchadehama, a human rights lawyer who has represented MDC and human rights activists on several occasions, told the court yesterday that he suspects the case against Gwisai and five others to be a sting job to trap the suspects.
Gwisai and his co-accused initially faced treason charges for watching videos of the Arab Spring revolutions but the charges have since been reduced to conniving to incite and promote public violence.
Shoko, an undercover police officer who claims to have been part of the planning meeting, is the second state witness after Rinos Chari, who testified on September 14.
"In his testimony he testified that he sneaked into the meeting, so I want to ascertain if he did not also sneak into these proceedings," said Gwisai's lawyer Alec Muchadehama.
Muchadehama said this after prosecutor Edmore Nyazamba objected his line of questioning during cross examination.
Muchadehama requested for Shoko's force number, which he disputed and said was similar to those given to police officers that were admitted into the force in 1998, yet Shoko only started training in 2001, according to his evidence.
Shoko was further asked if he used a different name.
Muchadehama said they had made enquiries with the Criminal Intelligence Unit, a department Shoko claims to be part of and they were told that the name Jonathan Shoko did not exist in the department.
Shoko was further asked about his officer in charge's office number, which he said he was not aware of. He was also asked whether he was on Facebook or twitter, to which he denied.
The matter is expected to continue on Friday when Muchadehama will continue cross-examining Shoko.
Gwisai, 43, is jointly charged with Antonater Choto, 36, Tatenda Mombeyarara, 29, Edson Chakuma, 38, Hopewell Gumbo, 32 and Welcome Zimuto, 25.
Nyazamba told the court that the six convened a meeting at Zimbabwe Labour Centre in Harare, where they agreed to act in concert to forcibly and seriously disturb peace, security or order of the public in Zimbabwe on February 19 this year.
The state further alleges that they agreed to mobilise the people of Zimbabwe to revolt against the government and demand the resignation of the president of Zimbabwe after watching video footage of revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia.
Source - Daily News
