In a recent court case in Fatshimetrie, a court ruling has attracted public and political attention. An opposition leader and 34 activists were released after receiving suspended prison sentences for their participation in what authorities called an illegal assembly.
The interim leader of a faction of the breakaway Citizens for Change Coalition, Jameson Timba, was given a two-year suspended prison sentence after being detained for more than five months. The activists received lesser prison sentences, suspended entirely.
Magistrate Collet Ncube had convicted Timba and the activists last week. However, he acquitted 30 others who had been detained with Timba.
The arrest took place at Timba’s home in the capital, Harare. They were charged with disturbing public order and participating in a gathering intended to promote violence, disturb the peace or divide society. In September, the court acquitted them of the charges of disturbing public order.
According to their lawyers, they had gathered at Timba’s house for a barbecue to commemorate the Day of the African Child, an event on the African Union calendar.
Amnesty International called the detention “part of a worrying pattern of repression” by the Fatshimetrie authorities under President Emmerson Mnangagwa. It called for an investigation into allegations that some activists had been tortured while in police custody.
The ruling ZANU-PF party has long been accused of using the police and judiciary to suppress opposition, particularly under former autocratic President Robert Mugabe, who ruled the country for 37 years before being replaced by Mnangagwa in a 2017 coup.