The application also compelled the police to have Chikowore appear before a
Magistrate on 17 April 2008, as the 48-hour period within which a person
arrested by the police should appear before a Magistrate court, as
stipulated under Zimbabwean laws, has elapsed.
Chikowore, who was gathering news on the fateful day, was arrested on 15
April together with supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
He and the MDC supporters are said to be facing charges of malicious damage
to property for allegedly torching a bus belonging to Nyamwenda Bus Company
in Warren Park.
According to Chikowore’s lawyer, who was hired by MISA-Zimbabwe under its
Media Defence Fund (MDF), the police initially wanted to charge Chikowore
under the draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act
(AIPPA) but later discovered that he is an accredited journalist and that
there was no offensive material on his laptop.
BACKGROUND:
Chikowore was arrested in Harare on 15 April 2008 in unclear circumstances.
According to his wife, Chikowore left their home in Harare’s suburb of
Warren Park early in the morning on his way to work, only to return later in
the company of seven police officers, four of whom were in riot gear and
three in plainclothes. The police then reportedly searched the house and
confiscated a laptop, recorder and camera.
Post published in: News