There was much activity in the magistrates’ courts in Harare on Thursday when human rights lawyers, two senior journalists and WOZA activists appeared in court for separate, routine, remand hearings.

Two editors from the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper, Vincent Kahiya and Constantine Chimakure, appeared before Magistrate Catherine Chimanda, who ruled that they will stand trial on June 16 th. This was after the State Prosecutor, Moses Musendo, argued that they face serious charges that justifies them standing trial.

The two, who were arrested on May 11 th, are accused of writing a story that would undermine public confidence in law enforcement agents. They had published a story en titled, CIO , police role in activists’ abduction revealed, containing the names of police officers and state agents implicated in the abductions of MDC and civic activists.

The newspaper editors were ordered to report once a week as part of their bail conditions, but their lawyer Innocent Chagonda successfully had their bail conditions removed.

In another case, Alec Muchadehama, a leading rights lawyer appeared in court for a remand hearing following his arrest on 15 May. He is facing charges of obstructing the course of justice, for allegedly conniving with a judge’s clerk to have bail orders filed, which eventually led to the release of three of his clients on 17 th April. He is accused of doing this after the State had obtained leave to appeal to the Supreme Court against the granting of bail.

Muchadehama lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, argued against her client’s placement on remand saying that the offence leveled against him ‘did not constitute a reasonable suspicion which warranted or justified either his arrest or placement on remand.’  Magistrate Chimanda postponed the matter to June 1st for a ruling.

Muchadehama told SW Radio Africa said even if the court removes him from remand, the Attorney General can still proceed by way of summons and put him on trial. The prosecutor indicated that the trial date should start on 17th June. Muchadehama said: “For malicious reason they can actually do that, so that a person can go through these motions of a trial, whilst my time is being wasted and then I am then deprived of doing other things. My rights to practice law are temporarily affected because instead of attending to my clients I then have to attend to my own cases. They can do that for malicious reasons. They are very good at that.”

Meanwhile rights lawyers, Roselyn Hanzi and Tawanda Zhuwarara, plus eight WOZA members, where acquitted when their trial resumed on Thursday in Harare . The 10 were brought before the courts following their arrest on 10th February for allegedly ‘participating in an illegal gathering that was bent on breaching the peace.’

Muchadehama said the magistrate threw out this case when the State witnesses, two police officers, said ‘nothing in terms of substance’ during their testimony. The magistrate acquitted the 10 saying they committed no offence.

The WOZA members had been part of a group that held a peaceful march in Harare and the lawyers had been walking by, when riot police violently broke up the demonstration and arrested them all.

Muchadehama said this is another example of how the authorities abuse their power by arresting innocent people, making them pay bail and forcing them to go through the motions of a trial, only to be acquitted in the end.

An angry Muchadehama added: “I think there is a clique in the military, CIO , the police or the Attorney General and so on, who are behind these things (arrests). These are well calculated and planned quite deliberately – where it’s decided that certain people must be abducted, certain people must be killed, and deliberately violate people’s rights.”

He said this plot is systematic and widespread throughout the country and that he was exasperated to see this happening, during a time when there is a new inclusive government in the country. “People also appear not to be perplexed and shocked and unmoved about such things. How can these things be happening? I am quite upset about this because it doesn’t have to happen this way.”