MDC Vanguard leader arrested, accused of shooting Zanu-PF activist with AK47

MDC youth assembly leader Shakespeare Mukoyi was arrested on Monday accused of shooting a Zanu-PF activist two days after a nationwide strike over fuel prices in January, his lawyer said.

Mukoyi is accused of shooting the unnamed Zanu-PF supporter in the thigh with an AK47 while dressed in military uniform, which he refutes.

The incident allegedly happened on January 16, two days after widespread protests in response to a 168 percent fuel price increase decreed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Mukoyi spent the greater part of Monday, April 1, being questioned by detectives at Harare Central Police Station before being released into the custody of his lawyer. He will appear in court soon facing charges of attempted murder.

Obey Shava, of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, said the charges were baseless.

"The allegations are without foundation and we will be fighting them vigorously. If they were genuine, surely the police would have been ready for court by now, considering that it allegedly happened in January 2019," the lawyer said.

The January 14 protests were crushed by the military, which is accused of killing at least 18 people, while over 80 others were left nursing gunshot wounds.

Opposition leaders and labour activists are among over a thousand people rounded up after the protests and accused of a range of crimes, including plotting the overthrow of the government.

Human rights groups have called for justice for the over 400 people allegedly brutalised by the military, including victims of rape and murder, in the nationwide crackdown that followed.

The military denies committing any atrocities in the campaign, blaming it on rogue opposition elements who allegedly stole army uniforms.