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Hopewell Chin’ono has accused the country’s judiciary of abusing the Anti-Corruption Court to persecute critics and journalists speaking out against President Mnangagwa’s regime.
Chin’ono said this at the Harare Magistrates Court where he was brought on fresh charges of obstructing the course of justice by making statements that are likely to prejudice suspended Zimbabwe Miners Federation president Henrietta Rushwaya’s gold smuggling case through an alleged tweet.
He said he was being persecuted for exposing the corruption between the gold smugglers and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), and queried why he was being taken to appear before an Anti-Corruption Court while his charge had nothing to do with corruption.
“And here we are, here is the evidence. It is a criminal case and I am being taken to the Anti-Corruption Court.”
“I am being persecuted for exposing the corruption between the gold smugglers and the NPA. I am not moved. You know that the State will always persecute us for doing our work as journalists,” Chin’ono fumed.
His lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa said the Anti-Corruption Court was being abused:
“We have said this before, the Anti-Corruption Court is being abused to deal with persons who are seen to be detractors of the regime, that is the bottom line. We want to know why we are in the Anti-Corruption Court where no one ever gets bail, no one ever wins anything.”
Chin’ono appeared before Harare magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa but could not plead after Mtetwa raised an argument that Chin’ono could not be placed before the court as it was improper.
She said his 48-hour period of detention lapsed before he could attend court while under police custody and according to the Constitution he was improperly before the court as it had no jurisdiction to hear him.
Mtetwa further buttressed her argument by referring to section 32 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act.
“He was arrested at 5.10pm on 3 November 2020. We came to court and the court sat at 5.32pm. That was way beyond the 48-hour period. We raised the issue that the court cannot entertain someone who is illegally before the court,” she argued.
The State led by Audrey Chogumaira stated that they needed the investigating officer to come and testify before the court addressing these claims.
Mtetwa argued that the hearing could not be rolled over to tomorrow as legally Chin’ono should be summoned back to court and not to be remanded in custody.
However, magistrate Gofa ruled that applications placed before her were matters that needed arguments and hence Chin’ono would be detained overnight as she wants the investigating officer of the case to come and testify on the issue of over detention.
She stated that after his submissions the court would be able to make a decision whether he was wrongly placed before the court.
The case will be heard tomorrow at 9am. Chin’ono will spend the night at Harare Remand prison. Nhau/Indaba
