Police release 25 more NCA activists

By Tererai Karimakwenda
June 20, 2007

On Wednesday the police in Harare released 21 activists who had been reported missing by the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA). 4 more who had been arrested as the group gathered for a demonstration in Harare last Friday, were also released. This makes a total of 25 people who were released without charge on Wednesday. No lawyers had been allowed access to them.

Tapera Kapuya of the NCA told us all 25 had been severely assaulted and are receiving medical treatment. He expressed concern that there may be more innocent Zimbabweans being tortured in police custody because no-one knows how many people have been abducted by state agents. No information had been made available about the missing activists prior to their release.

The NCA reported last Friday that 50 of their activists had gone missing and 6 had been arrested as they gathered for a demonstration in Harare. 18 of the missing were found in Hwange National Park and 13 along the Masvingo Highway over the weekend. 3 of the arrested were released on Monday.

Kapuya said it is difficult to be certain of any of the numbers because no lawyers have been allowed access to the police files or to the arrested activists. He stressed that innocent civilians who are not NCA members are also being targeted.

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