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Violence, recrimination and arrests after policeman's death in Glen View - Index of articles
Bail ruling for 29 MDC members postponed indefinitely
Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC)
March
22, 2012
High Court Judge,
Justice Chinembiri Bhunu has postponed indefinitely the bail ruling
of the 29 MDC members who are in remand prison facing
false charges of murdering a police officer in Glen View, Harare
last May and of public violence.
Today, the defence
lawyers finished making their submissions before Justice Bhunu,
in a case that has been postponed eight times since it started two
weeks ago.
The State is
denying that they be granted bail claiming they are a flight risk
as their trial is now pending.
The 29 were
indicted for trial on 1 March 2012.
During today's
hearing, the defence lawyer, Charles Kwaramba made a separate bail
application for Solomon Madzore, the MDC Youth Assembly chairperson,
Jefias Moyo and Paul Rukanda who were in remand prison after they
were denied bail earlier as they were said to be a flight risk.
Kwaramba said
there was no reason to deny the three bail as their indictment had
not made the State case stronger but had weakened it.
"The indictment
has not strengthened the State's case but rather weakened
it. The indictment does not show a case which is stronger than the
accused and their co-accused who were previously granted bail,"
said Kwaramba.
"The question
then is, looking at the indictment papers, is there anything peculiar
on the accused which makes their case any worse than the co-accused?"
he asked.
Kwaramba said
Madzore had even gone further by producing an alibi through his
family's doctor who signed an affidavit confirming that when
the alleged offence took place, Madzore had accompanied his wife
to the doctor as she was feeling unwell.
"We have
an alibi which is intact and not false. The question begs an answer
of what more can an accused person do to prove his innocence,"
said Kwaramba.
He said the
offer by Madzore, Moyo and Rukanda to be released on stringent conditions
is not an admission by the accused that the case is strong but to
be liberated on difficult conditions.
Meanwhile, before
the start of the bail hearing, Kwaramba raised complaints from the
accused who said they were feeling insecure by the presence of several
police officers and State security agents who were attending court,
taking notes and gazing at them in a very suspicious manner.
He said what
was of worry was that some of the police officers might be State
witnesses in the trial and are not supposed to attend court but
only when they are called to testify.
"In court
yesterday, I saw some gentlemen sitting on the section reserved
for media personnel. One of them is a police officer from the Central
Investigation Department's Law and Order Section which investigated
the matter. I could not identify the other one but I am informed
that he is employed in the security sector.
"What
is worrying was that they were throwing gazes at the accused and
taking notes before I raised the issue with the registrar and they
were told to leave," said Kwaramba.
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