ZRP Is reportedly charching Hopewell Chin’ono using a law that in another case in 2014 was struck off from the statute by the Constitutional Court, Law fundi Alex Magaisa has said.
Magaisa in a Twitter thread echoed what Chin’ono said that his arrest is political persecution when he tweeted that:
PoliceZimbabwe are charging journalist Hopewell Chin’[email protected] under a provision that was struck off from the statute by the Constitutional Court in 2014. In the Chimakure case, the court held that s. 31(a)(iii) of the Criminal Code was VOID.
The regime will probably say it was declared void under the old Constitution. But this would be a silly argument. Once the provision was struck off, it no longer exists. The only way it would exist is if the legislature re-enacted it. None of that happened. There’s NO offence!
It’s another demonstration of the fact that it’s political persecution packaged as a prosecution. How do the police snd prosecutors bring a charge under a non-existent law? It’s stupid, embarrassing and unprofessional but this is what happens in an authoritarian regime.
Chin’ono who was arrested for the third time in 6 months was picked up at his home yesterday and he was charged with tweeted false reports after he commented on a viral story of ZRP officers allegedly fatally striking a baby strapped on its mother’s back.
