Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Alliance party spokesperson Advocate Fadzayi Mahere is spending the weekend detained at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison after Harare Magistrate Trynos Utahwashe postponed his ruling on her bail application to Monday 18 January 2021.
Magistrate Utahwashe said he will only be in a position to hand down his ruling next week because he cannot do so on Saturday 16 January 2021 as officials will be disinfecting courtrooms at Harare Magistrates Court.
In her bail application, Mahere’s lawyers David Drury, Andria Dracos of Honey and Blanckenberg Legal Practitioners and assisted by Jeremiah Bamu and Tinashe Chinopfukutwa of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, argued that she deserves to be set free as her arrest and prosecution was just part of a deliberate plot by Zimbabwean authorities to punish her for freely expressing herself.
Mahere was arrested on Monday 11 January 2021 by Zimbabwe Republic Police and charged with publishing or communicating a false statement with the intention of inciting or promoting public disorder or public violence or endangering public safety as defined in section 31(a)(i) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
She was also charged with publishing or communicating a false statement with the intention of undermining public confidence in a law enforcement agency as defined in section 31(a)(iii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
Source: Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
