Police in Harare yesterday raided the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) offices in Milton Park, hours after detaining its members in Gwanda on Monday.
They detained and questioned MMPZ director, Andy Moyse after searching and seizing hundreds of compact discs with information they thought was on the infamous Gukurahundi, produced by the organisation.
Five officers from the Law and Order section led by one Detective Assistant Inspector Phiri, brandishing a search warrant, are said to have arrived at the organisation’s offices and proceeded to search.
According to the search warrant, the police said they had grounds to suspect MMPZ officers may have acted in breach of section 31 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform Act) — that is publishing or communicating falsehoods prejudicial to the State.
“They took him at around 11:30am and he is still being questioned. Whilst the police officers indicated he was not formally under arrest, the MMPZ is concerned the police may detain him to investigate a matter whose circumstances and gravity do not at all warrant pre-trial detention,” said Dzikamai Machingura, MMPZ advocacy co-ordinator.
Said Moyse after his release last night : “i am happy to be a free man. iwasnot arrested but was questioned about the detention of my staff in Gwanda.
Meanwhile, lawyers representing the arrested MMPZ officials in Gwanda, Kossam Ncube of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said: “The police have indicated that they might take three MMPZ monitors to court tomorrow.
“Unfortunately it means they are to spend another night in the holding cells,” said Ncube.
