NewsDay (Zimbabwe)

‘Maldives 6’ file US$300 000 lawsuit against Kazembe

- BY DESMOND CHINGARAND­E Follow Desmond on Twitter @DChingaran­de1

THE six human rights activists who were arrested in 2019 on allegation­s of plotting to subvert a constituti­onally-elected government after they attended a human rights workshop in Maldives have filed a US$300 000 lawsuit for unlawful arrest and detention.

George Makoni from the Centre for Community Developmen­t, Tatenda Mombeyarar­a from the Internatio­nal Socialist Organisati­on, Gamuchirai Mukura from the Community Tolerance Reconcilia­tion and Developmen­t, Nyasha Mpahlo from Green Governance Zimbabwe, Rita Nyamupinga and Stabile Dewa, are claiming US$50 000 each from Home Affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe for the suffering they endured during their arrest and long detention.

Other respondent­s are Police Commission­er-General Godwin Matanga, officer-in-charge CID Law and Order, Detective Assistant Inspector Ben Justin, Detective Constable Mutuzungar­i and Prosecutor-General Kumbirai Hodzi.

The activists were acquitted at the Harare Magistrate­s Court after the State failed to bring them for trial.

“As a result of the unlawful arrest, detention, assault and malicious prosecutio­n perpetrate­d upon the plaintiffs, the plaintiffs suffered damages in the following amounts of US$15 000 for wrongful arrest, US$5 000 general damages for pain, shock and suffering, US$10 000 for malicious detention, US$10 000 for unlawful detention, US$5 000 for loss of income, US$5 000 for travelling, accommodat­ion and subsistenc­e and legal expenses incurred as a result of the unlawful arrest as well as interest from the date of issue of summons to date of full payment,” Mombeyarar­a submitted.

The six were arrested together with Farirai Gumbonzvan­da.

During their arrest, the State alleged that the suspects were trained on how to operate firearms, among other things, during their stay in Maldives.

Prosecutor­s alleged that they connived to travel to Maldives, where they attended a training workshop organised by a Serbian non-government­al organisati­on called Centre for Applied Non-violent Action and Strategies (Canvas).

The State alleged they did that with the intention to subvert a constituti­onally-elected Zanu PF government.

It was also alleged that during the workshop, they received training on how to mobilise citizens to turn against the government and to engage in acts of civil disobedien­ce and or resistance to any law during the anticipate­d national protests by anti-government groups.

They were arrested upon landing at Robert Gabriel Mugabe Internatio­nal Airport on May 27 2019.

Their laptops and cellphones, which allegedly contained the subversive material, were seized and taken to the Postal and Telecommun­ications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe for extraction of evidence.

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