Zimbabwe court docket grants bail to 26 opposition occasion members

HARARE (Reuters) – A Zimbabwean court docket granted bail on Friday to 26 opposition occasion members who have been arrested for holding what authorities stated was an illegal gathering.

The arrest of Residents Coalition for Change (CCC) members, together with two Members of Parliament, stoked fears of a crackdown on opposition politicians forward of a vital election this yr at a but to be introduced date.

“This confirms that the arrest was an abuse of course of within the first place,” CCC spokeswoman Fadzayi Mahere informed journalists outdoors court docket. “All this reveals that the regime’s paranoia has reached fever pitch they usually discover that they’re staring defeat within the face.”

Zimbabwean police on Jan. 14 fired teargas on the CCC occasion gathering in Harare and arrested its members. The defendants’ attorneys argued that the arrests have been illegal because the gathering was at a personal area.

Arguing towards bail, prosecutors stated the occasion had not sought clearance to carry the assembly. Zimbabwe legal guidelines require that political events apply for approval from police two weeks upfront earlier than holding a gathering.

The arrests got here after a wave of politically motivated violence towards opposition supporters in rural Zimbabwe, elevating fears of repression forward of this yr’s presidential election.

CCC, led by the youthful Nelson Chamisa, will battle President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ZANU-PF for the second time on the ballot.

The opposition occasion, born out of the previous Motion for Democratic Change (MDC), enjoys large city help and is seen as a risk to ZANU-PF’s 43-year-old stranglehold on energy.

(Reporting by Nyasha Chingono; Enhancing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Peter Graff)