Africa News of Thursday, 29 April 2021
Source: aljazeera.com
A court in Zimbabwe has terminated charges of communicating false information levelled against award-winning investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono, saying the law used by police to arrest him earlier this year no longer existed.
Chin’ono, 48, has been a fierce critic of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s rule, accusing his government of corruption and mismanagement. Over the past year, he has spent many weeks behind bars and was hit with several charges, including inciting violence and obstructing justice.
On Wednesday, Chin’ono’s lawyer Harrison Nkomo said the charges of communicating false information had been quashed by the country’s High Court “because the section under which he was charged is no longer part of our law”.
Chin’ono himself also wrote on Twitter: “I was charged using a law that doesn’t exist as part of Mnangagwa’s continued political persecution of myself!”
1. On 8 January I was arrested for falsehoods & accused of something I NEVER did.
— Hopewell Chin’ono Today (@daddyhope) April 28, 2021
I was charged using a law that doesn’t exist as part of Mnangagwa’s continued political persecution of myself!
I spent 20 days in prison!
High Court judge Justice Charehwa has stopped that case. pic.twitter.com/J2LmJl7Ly3