Sikhala successfully appeal conviction

Opposition activist and former Zengeza West legislator Job Sikhala has successfully appealed a High Court conviction and sentence for publishing falsehoods on social media.

Sikhala had been convicted by Magistrate Feresi Chakanyuka for falsely claiming on Facebook that a police officer had killed a child with a baton, a claim made after a video of a distressed woman accusing a policeman of killing her baby went viral.

The High Court has overturned Sikhala's conviction, with the judgment stating that the appeal was allowed and the original conviction was quashed.

Sikhala's legal representation, led by Harrison Nkomo, argued that there is no specific crime for "publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to the State."

Previously, Sikhala spent 595 days in pre-trial detention on a charge of inciting public violence and was also convicted of a similar offence as his former colleague, Fadzayi Mahere, who was fined US$600.

Sikhala, who has since left the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) to form his own movement, had been held at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison awaiting trial related to the death of party supporter Moreblessing Ali.