Magistrate dismisses case against MDC-MP elect Ian Kay

By Tichaona Sibanda
19 August 2008

MDC-MP elect for Marondera Central in Mashonaland East province, Ian Kay, is a free man after a magistrate threw out state charges levelled against him for allegedly inciting violence in his constituency.

Kay was arrested at the height of the state sponsored violence against the MDC in May and spent two weeks locked up in police cells in Mutoko.

He was subsequently granted bail but has been on remand ever since. The MP elect was reporting twice weekly to the police and was asked to surrender his passport.

Kay told Newsreel his case had dragged on for months because charges against him could not stand up in court as there were all fabricated. The state was unable to provide a single item of evidence that Kay had done anything, or said anything, to incite violence. Almost all the post election violence has been created by members of Zanu-PF, including the security forces.

‘The magistrate finally dismissed the case because the evidence was not credible. We knew all along that this case was not going anywhere so now I’ll be applying to get my passport back,’ Kay said.

Kay, a fluent Shona speaker, was in 2002 brutally attacked and forced off his farm in Marondera. He now plans to sue the police for grossly violating his human rights.