News / Local
'Mugabe is a goblin,' ConCourt clears Tsvangirai's ally
12 Jan 2017 at 06:54hrs | Views
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) secretary general, Douglas
Mwonzora has been cleared by the Constitutional Court on claims that he
insulted President Robert Mugabe in 2009 calling him a goblin.
That was at an MDC-T rally held at Ruwangwe Growth Point in Nyanga.
The full nine-member ConCourt bench headed by outgoing Chief Justice, Godfrey Chidyausiku said Mwonzora was expressing his views at a political rally.
"It is declared that the prosecution of the applicant on allegations of having contravened Section 33(2)(a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) amounted to a deprivation of his personal liberty save as would have been authorised by law in contravention of Section 13(1) of the Constitution and was a denial of the fundamental right of the applicant to the protection of the law guaranteed under Section 18(1) of the Constitution,".
"The finding by the court is that if the facts alleged in the outline of the case for the prosecution were proved at the trial of the applicant they would not have constituted an offence."
Added the court "The statement that the President was a goblin was obviously a false statement. The offence is, however, not committed because a person has uttered at a public place a false statement about or concerning the President".
#000000;">The court said the state must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the false statement about or concerning the President was capable of deceiving the hearer into believing it is true and that it was likely to arouse in the audience feelings of hostility towards the President or his office.
That was at an MDC-T rally held at Ruwangwe Growth Point in Nyanga.
The full nine-member ConCourt bench headed by outgoing Chief Justice, Godfrey Chidyausiku said Mwonzora was expressing his views at a political rally.
"It is declared that the prosecution of the applicant on allegations of having contravened Section 33(2)(a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) amounted to a deprivation of his personal liberty save as would have been authorised by law in contravention of Section 13(1) of the Constitution and was a denial of the fundamental right of the applicant to the protection of the law guaranteed under Section 18(1) of the Constitution,".
"The finding by the court is that if the facts alleged in the outline of the case for the prosecution were proved at the trial of the applicant they would not have constituted an offence."
Added the court "The statement that the President was a goblin was obviously a false statement. The offence is, however, not committed because a person has uttered at a public place a false statement about or concerning the President".
#000000;">The court said the state must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the false statement about or concerning the President was capable of deceiving the hearer into believing it is true and that it was likely to arouse in the audience feelings of hostility towards the President or his office.
Source - fingaz
