Renowned investigative journalist, Hopewell Chin’ono has been remanded in prison.
This is after his lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa had tried to explain to the court that 48 hours had lapsed since the arrest, meaning Chin’ono was illegally before the court.
Apparently, according to the law a suspect should be made to appear before a court within 48 hours after arrest.
However, magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa said she can only entertain the arguments on Friday before she makes her ruling.
This means Chin’ono has been sent to jail.
Suspects have the right to challenge the lawfulness of their detention before a court of law and to be quickly released if the detention is unlawful.
Any person detained pending trial must be tried within a reasonable time or else he or she must be released without conditions or on reasonable conditions.
-Zwnews