Police holds suspect’s mobile phone handset for 10 months over July 31 2020 protests

For 10 months, Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) in Marondera has been holding onto a mobile phone handset for Joseph Mandizvidza Nyaguse, a resident of Marondera, on the basis that he had sent a message on a WhatsApp group urging people to participate in anti-corruption protests held on July 31 2020.

However, according to Nyaguse’s lawyers from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), he wasn’t prosecuted and was released from police custody after prosecutors in Marondera declined to prosecute.

ZLHR says despite not being prosecuted, Detective Assistant Inspector Chamboko, the Officer In Charge of Marondera Police Station is still holding on to his cellphone.

Nyaguse was arrested on 28 July 2020 after after police raided his homestead in Mahusekwa and accused him of inciting people to commit public violence by sending a message on a WhatsApp group urging people to source “manila paper and markers” to write messages for use during the demonstration.

In another matter Magistrate Muchuchuti Guwuriro is this afternoon expected to hand down her ruling on an application by journalist Hopewell Chin’ono for exception to charges of incitement to commit public violence.

-Zwnews