The ten including the lawyers Ms Roselyn Hanzi and Mr Tawanda Zhuwarara
were finally brought to court on Thursday 12 February 2009 after
spending two nights in police detention at the notorious Harare Central
Police Station.
Magistrate Gloria Takundwa granted free bail and ordered the human
rights lawyers and the WOZA members to reside at their given
residential addresses and not to interfere with State witnesses. The
ten will return to court on 04 March 2009 for commencement of trial.
Ms Roselyn Hanzi and Mr Tawanda Zhuwarara were arrested by unidentified
members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) on 10 February 2009 as
they were returning to the ZLHR office situated next to the Parliament
building after lunch. Regrettably, they were caught in the crossfire of
further indiscriminate arrests carried out by the ZRP arising from a
demonstration outside Parliament building in Harare by the Women of
Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA). With the complicity of Parliamentary staff, they
were unlawfully detained in the Parliament Guard Room, until police
details removed them to Harare Central police station.
In contravention of constitutional protective provisions relating to
detained persons, but in the customary fashion of the ZRP, lawyers who
attempted to get access to Hanzi and Zhuwarara at Harare Central were
denied access by the police on the day of their arrest and only
obtained access to their clients on Wednesday 11 February 2009.