HARARE - A High Court Judge has ordered police to pay an elderly constitutional reform activist US$5 000 in damages for assault.
Justice Bharat Patel last week ruled in favour of National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) activist Bopoto Nyandoro, 63, who went to court after police beatings in 2005 left him suffering from severe pains in his chest, ribs and left leg. Bopoto told the court that police assaulted him after he joined about 300 other NCA activists for protests to demand people-driven constitutional reforms.
He said the NCA demonstrators were running and singing along the side of the road and dropping political fliers without obstructing traffic in central Harare. At the corner of Inez Terrace, members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police armed with baton sticks disembarked from about six lorries. Unlike other protestors, Bopoto failed to flee due to his advanced age.