News / National
'Abducted' MDC activists hearing set for tomorrow
01 Sep 2020 at 14:22hrs | Views
THE trial of former Harare West MP Joanna Mamombe and two other MDC Alliance activists, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova, on charges of stage-managing their abduction in May will continue tomorrow before High Court judge Justice Clement Phiri.
The three were arrested for allegedly stage-managing their abduction in May.
The State claims a GPS tracking system on their mobile numbers proved they were actually in Harare during the time they claimed to have been abducted.
But in their application, the activists demanded a record of their movements on the day in question.
Mamombe, Chimbiri and Marova were reportedly abducted by State security agents on May 13, 2020. The incident was widely condemned, but President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government dismissed it as stage-managed.
But the trio has approached the High Court for an order to compel the mobile operator, which has the GPS tracking system, to release the day's recording saying it would show how they were allegedly tracked down by the State security agents, leading to their abduction.
"This is a court application in which we seek that the respondent (Econet Wireless) be compelled by this court to release to us crucial information that will assist the investigations we are making on the circumstances surrounding our abduction on May 13, 2020," Mamombe said in her founding affidavit which her co-applicants associated themselves with.
"This information will also be critical in our defence to what we believe are trumped up charges of allegedly publishing false statements prejudicial to the State we are currently facing."
The opposition activists are currently out of custody on $10 000 bail each.
The three were arrested for allegedly stage-managing their abduction in May.
The State claims a GPS tracking system on their mobile numbers proved they were actually in Harare during the time they claimed to have been abducted.
But in their application, the activists demanded a record of their movements on the day in question.
Mamombe, Chimbiri and Marova were reportedly abducted by State security agents on May 13, 2020. The incident was widely condemned, but President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government dismissed it as stage-managed.
But the trio has approached the High Court for an order to compel the mobile operator, which has the GPS tracking system, to release the day's recording saying it would show how they were allegedly tracked down by the State security agents, leading to their abduction.
"This is a court application in which we seek that the respondent (Econet Wireless) be compelled by this court to release to us crucial information that will assist the investigations we are making on the circumstances surrounding our abduction on May 13, 2020," Mamombe said in her founding affidavit which her co-applicants associated themselves with.
"This information will also be critical in our defence to what we believe are trumped up charges of allegedly publishing false statements prejudicial to the State we are currently facing."
The opposition activists are currently out of custody on $10 000 bail each.
Source - newsday
