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By Daniel Kachere
Investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono will appear at the High Court tomorrow morning for the hearing of his bail application after it failed to kick off Tuesday, Nhau has learnt.
The case was set to be heard by Justice Tawanda Chitapi who postponed it to tomorrow morning to allow himself sufficient time to go through the record from the Harare Magistrates Court where Chin’ono was denied bail by magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa last week.
Gofa denied him bail stating that Chin’ono had a propensity to commit offences and thus should remain incarcerated.
The magistrate ruled that Chin’ono committed the offence of defeating or obstructing the course of justice as defined in section 184 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act while on bail over another matter still pending at the courts.
The charges arose after he was accused of allegedly posting a message on his Twitter account (@daddyhope), which was deemed as an attempt to influence a case in which suspended Zimbabwe Miners Federation president Henrietta Rushwaya was hauled before the courts for allegedly attempting to smuggle 6 kilogrammes of 99.99 percent pure gold out of Zimbabwe.
Chin’ono is also facing charges of allegedly claiming that he had sources within the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) who passed him “confidential prosecutorial deliberations” which he is alleged to have tweeted on October 25 thereby prejudicing not just Rushwaya’s case but his as well.
The tweet claimed that Rushwaya was going to be granted bail without any opposition by NPA officials, which came to pass before the consent to that bail was later withdrawn.
Chin’ono is represented by human rights lawyers Beatrice Mtetwa, Gift Mtisi and Doug Coltart of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.He is currently detained at Chikurubi Maximum Prison, where he walked out of after spending 45 days just weeks ago.
On his first stint in jail, Chin’ono together with Transform Zimbabwe leader Jacob Ngarivhume were accused of inciting public violence ahead of the July 31 anti-looting protests.
On his latest brush with the law, Chin’ono was arrested on November 3 at his home and has been behind bars ever since.
Initially, reports were that Chin’ono was arrested for a tweet he allegedly made suggesting that Chief Justice Luke Malaba had used his influence to deny him bail over the incitement charges. Nhau/Indaba
