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Zimbabwe: Mutambara Expected to Appear in Court Tuesday
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SW Radio Africa (London)
2 June 2008
Posted to the web 2 June 2008
Tichaona Sibanda
Arthur Mutambara, leader of the breakaway faction of the MDC is expected to appear in court Tuesday. He is facing two charges, one for contempt of court for criticising a High court judge and another for issuing false statements likely to cause disaffection towards the regime.
On April 20, Mutambara authored an article that was highly critical of Robert Mugabe. In the article, that appeared in the weekly Standard newspaper, Mutambara criticised Mugabe's handling of the March elections. He also accused the government of intimidation and questioned its legitimacy, following its loss in the March elections.
Trudy Stevenson, the party's secretary for policy and research said the other charge arose from the same article where Mutambara blasted Judge Tendai Uchena for failing to order the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to release the presidential results.
'In the first place, people have a right to criticise, and to arrest a political leader for criticising is not intimidation but pure madness,' Stevenson said.
Standard editor Davison Maruziva was last month arrested and charged with publishing the same article. Eric Matinenga, a lawyer and newly elected MP from the Tsvangirai MDC was also arrested on Sunday at his rural home in Buhera. This brings to 12 the number of MDC MPs that have been arrested since the March 29 election
Meanwhile, on Saturday police prevented the MDC from staging two rallies in the resort towns of Hwange and Victoria Falls that were due to be addressed by party leader Morgan Tsvangirai. MDC supporters were blocked from entering the stadiums where the rallies were to be held by the police.
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Nelson Chamisa said the police were acting on the instructions of ZANU-PF in preventing them from reaching out to their people. He described the police actions as 'deliberate attempts,' aimed at ensuring there was a blackout of all party programmes, and also preventing Morgan Tsvangirai from reaching people on the ground.
The problem lies with the international community they are discicriminating against Zimbabwe,They took quick action in Kenya,China and Buma why no action in Zimbabwe?The stories you here in on media are part of lickages but on the ground it is inhuman.They is no proper media coverage as those few fear arrests.
Dispite election rigging on 29March and now knowing that 27June is the run off you should have made sure that the piecekeepper and observers are on the ground now.They are not there what you doing is just making noise shouting Mugabe.Wakeup and take action now to defent defenseless people... [Read Full Text]
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