Zim Court In Unprecedented Weekend Sitting As 17 Residents Targeted In Dragnet...

Zim Court In Unprecedented Weekend Sitting As 17 Residents Targeted In Dragnet Arrest

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17 BEITBRIDGE residents on Sunday 03 July 2016 appeared at Beitbridge Magistrates Court after they were arrested on Friday 01 July 2016 and charged with public violence.
The 17 residents made up of 16 men and one woman appeared before Beitbridge Magistrate Gloria Takundwa for initial remand, where their lawyer Reason Mutimba of Mawadze and Simwango Legal Practitioners, a member of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, raised complaints against Zimbabwe Republic Police officers, whom he accused of assaulting 10 of the residents during the time when the law enforcement agents rounded them up in the border town.
The 17 residents were arrested on Friday 01 July 2016 and charged with public violence in contravention of Section 36 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23 following a protest allegedly staged in the border town against the imposition of import duty on some basic commodities by the government.
Magistrate Takundwa remanded the 17 residents in custody to Tuesday 05 July 2016, where she will consider their bail application. The matter had to be postponed after prosecutors indicated that they could not fully respond to issues pertaining to the release of the residents on bail as they needed to consult their superiors on how to proceed.
ZLHR commends court officials for going out of their comforts by convening a court session on a Sunday in an unprecedented move, which ensured that the rights of the accused persons are recognised in terms of the provisions of the new Constitution, which outlaws detaining accused persons beyond 48 hours without bringing them to court.
ENDS