COURT FREES 27 OPPOSITION BACKERS ON $50 BAIL
HARARE - Twenty-seven supporters of Zimbabwe’s MDC opposition party were released on bail yesterday over alleged violence at last week’s post-election protests that triggered a security crackdown.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, declared winner of the historic first elections since the downfall of Robert Mugabe, has vowed to protect rights since his re-election but the opposition say their members have been targeted.
“We are very pleased obviously that they have been released,” defence lawyer Denford Halimani told AFP following the hearing at Harare’s magistrates court.
Prosecutors had opposed bail, saying the accused - 19 men and eight women - were “linked” to the deaths of six people when the army opened fire on opposition supporters protesting against alleged election fraud.
At least five of the accused are polling agents who had been visiting MDC headquarters to hand in polling returns and collect travel expenses, according to the defence.
Halimani said that the 27 were required to post bail of $50 and have to report to Harare police station on Friday, but were not forced to surrender their passports.
“The magistrate said the state seemed not to be prepared,” he said, adding that they would return to court on September 4 for a bail review.”
The 27 denied the charges. Wednesday’s bloodshed sparked an international outcry and raised grim memories of post-election repression under Mugabe before he was ousted last year.
Mnangagwa has accused the MDC - the Movement for Democratic Change - of fomenting the unrest, but also said he would set up an independent commission to investigate the killings.
The MDC has also accused the security forces of abducting and beating opposition activists and their families since the knife-edge election result was declared early on Friday.
Meanwhile, the European Union and United State yesterday condemned violent attacks targeting the Zimbabwe opposition since elections last week, as 27 supporters of the MDC party were released on bail.
Last week’s poll, which was marred by soldiers opening fire at a protest Nilling six people, was meant to re-launch Zimbabwe on the international stage and attract foreign aid and investment after the repression of the Mugabe era.
“The eruption of violence... stand(s) in sharp contrast to the high hopes and expectations for a peaceful, inclusive, transparent and credible election,” said a joint statement from the EU, US, Canada and Switzerland.
It called for the government “to ensure that the Zimbabwean Defence Forces act with restraint, in full respect of international human rights norms.”