Madzore denied bail

Solomon Madzore

By Alex Bell
05 December 2011

The Chairman of the MDC-T’s Youth Assembly, who has been behind bars for more than two months, was denied bail on Monday.

Solomon Madzore is being held at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison in connection with the death of Glen View policeman Petros Mutedza. He is one of 28 MDC-T members who have been charged in connection with the death, which is said have happened during a bar fight back in May.

The youth leader was arrested in October and his original bail application was denied. His lawyers then launched a fresh application in the High Court last month, but the ruling was postponed eight times.

The hearing was eventually meant to get underway last Thursday after being postponed the day before. But the hearing failed to take place in the morning after the State prosecutor Edmore Nyazamba did not show up in court. This forced High Court Justice Maria Zimba Dube to move it to her chambers. She then ruled that the matter should be held in an open court as it was of public interest, and postponed the hearing to Monday. But on Monday, the bail was denied.

Meanwhile seven other MDC-T members, who are also facing murder charges, are also still being held behind bars under similar circumstances. The seven are part of the original group of MDC-T members arrested in May over the policeman’s death. The others were all released on bail in July.

The seven are: Glen View Ward 32 Councillor Tungamirai Madzokere, Rebecca Mafikeni, Phenias Nhatarikwa, Lazarus Maengahama, Stanford Maengahama, Yvonne Musarurwa and Stanford Mangwiro.