Hopewell Chin'ono's trial postponed

The trial of controversial journalist Hopewell Chin'ono who is being charged with obstructing justice might be postponed to February 2022 after the State asked for further remand on the basis that they are now wanting to contact Twitter over the charges.

Chin'ono is accused of breaching his bail conditions by tweeting about the court outcome of a gold smuggling scandal despite a ban on him posting on Twitter.

The charge is linked to the arrest of Zimbabwe Miners Federation head Henrietta Rushwaya at Harare Airport on October 26 as she was about to board a flight to Dubai with six of gold in her hand luggage.

In a tweet, Chin'ono said he had talked to prosecutors about Rushwaya, an act which the state said had jeopardised "the integrity of the case against himself and that of Rushwaya".

Said Chin'ono: The State has asked for further remand on the basis that they are now wanting to contact Twitter. They have applied for a long remand to February 2022. This is meant to just keep me constrained! We are now waiting for the magistrate to make a ruling on the state's request

This is the tweet that resulted in my arrest on November 3, 2020. I spent 23 days in Chikurubi Maximum Prison.
The State said to the court that it would be ready for trial end of November 2020. Ever since they have been asking for further remand. Today they ask for 4 months on the pretext that they now want to engage Twitter. This is a classic case of abuse of process when people are arrested to then investigate!