A FORMER Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operative who was arrested last year for producing a report alleging that police were powerless to deal with Zanu PF perpetrators of violence in 2008 has been placed off remand.
Report by Everson Mushava
Obadiah Dodo, now a Bindura University lecturer, was being charged alongside his student police Assistant Inspector Collen Musorowegomo for allegedly publishing the report on the American International Journal of Contemporary Research website.
Both Dodo and Musorowegomo have denied charges of publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to the State levelled against them, but said the report was part of their university research project.
The ex-CIO operative was freed last Friday after Bindura magistrate Ruramayi Chitumbura refused to continue placing him on remand. Chitumbura said the State was taking long to complete its investigations into the matter.
Dodo’s lawyer Alec Muchadehama confirmed his client was now a free man.
“The court has refused to further remand him. He is now a free man. “If the State will need to try him again, they will proceed by way of summons,” Muchadehama said yesterday.
Dodo was arrested on November 19 after police raided his home in Chitungwiza and confiscated his computer and vehicle.
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According to the State, the two connived to author a document titled “Political intolerance, diversity and democracy: youths violence in Bindura urban, Zimbabwe”, and posted it on the website.
The document showed how Zanu PF had virtually incapacitated the police.
Dodo and Musorowegomo argued the report was part of their research project, but denied publishing it on the website.
Meanwhile, Musorowegomeo has since been dismissed from the police force after serving a 12-day jail sentence at Chikurubi Maximum Prison for violating the Police Act.
Police found him guilty of actively “participating in politics” and going to further his studies without the consent of Commissioner-General Ausgustine Chihuri.
Today, Chief Inspector (Bindura provincial traffic co-ordinator) Ephraim Nyakata is set to appear before the Bindura Magistrates Court facing charges of granting Musorowegomo permission to further his education without Chihuri’s permission.
