The opposition MDC led by Nelson Chamisa has described as miscarriage of justice, Harare magistrates court’s granting of an application by state prosecutors to have the trial of Secretary General Charlton Hwende postponed to allow them to visit Twitter headquarters in USA to collect evidence implicating the Kuwadzana East legislator in the January 2019 violent protests.
In a statement after the magistrates’ court ruling, MDC Secretary for Legal Affairs, Innocent Gonese said they considered the judgement political ruling devoid of merit.
“It is our considered view that the Judgment is devoid of merit and smacks of a political ruling and ignores the well-articulated submissions of the Defence Counsel. We are at a loss as to why the State’s prevarication, which State stood to suffer no prejudice if the Accused had been removed from remand.
“To the contrary, Honourable Hwende has been deprived of his freedom for almost a year and it is apparent the State’s house is not in order. We believe that this is an appropriate case to have a judicial review of the matter so that justice can be done,” said Gonese.
He accused the National Prosecuting Authority of being abused by the state to harass and persecute those deemed against the ruling party.
“We yearn for a just society where the rule of law prevails and the National Prosecuting Authority is not abused to harass and persecute people for political reasons. We yearn for a truly people’s government that respects the rights of citizens as enshrined in the Constitution,” added Gonese.
Hwende was arrested in March last year for his alleged role in the January 14 protests which followed an unprecedented fuel price hike by the government.
