TWO Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) employees arrested for allegedly holding an unsanctioned meeting in Gweru last Friday were still in police custody yesterday after they were denied bail.
Report by Staff Reporter
The two — Emmaculate Chiseya and Lucy Chivasa — are being charged with contravening Section 24 of the Public Order and Security Act (Posa) by organising a gathering without police clearance.
ZESN is a non-governmental organisation that specialises in election education and monitoring across the country.
Their lawyer Brian Dube yesterday told NewsDay he was working flat out to secure their release.
“The two are still in police custody, they were not granted bail so we are still negotiating for their release, failure to which they shall be sent to court hopefully tomorrow (today),” said Dube.
Police had initially indicated that they would charge them with attending an unlawful gathering, but later dropped the charges and turned some of those who had been arrested into State witnesses and were released.
Several human rights defenders and opposition politicians have been charged under Posa with Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri defending the law, arguing the country would become ungovernable without it.
