Supreme Court Justice Wilson Sandura threw out an appeal by the Attorney General which challenged the granting of bail by the High Court to tortured MDC Transport Manager Pascal Gwezere. In November Justice Charles Hungwe had granted Gwezere US$500 bail, but the state immediately invoked a draconian section of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act to suspend the bail. Justice Sandura has now upheld that previous bail order, meaning Gwezere should have been freed on Monday.

But as with all things Zimbabwean, he is likely to spend another two nights in custody. His lawyer Alec Muchadehama told Newsreel on Monday that by the time they got Justice Sandura’s judgment, and went to the courts to pay the bail, staff had closed early at 4pm for the Unity Day holiday on Tuesday. This meant they will have to wait until Wednesday to pay the bail.

At the end of October state security agents had abducted Gwezere from his Mufakose home and subjected him to severe torture. He was also refused medical treatment, until a magistrate ordered that he be treated, but even then the state refused to allow him to be seen by a private doctor.

The Mugabe regime is alleging that Gwezere stole firearms from the Pomona Army Barracks in October. A second charge, that he underwent military training in Uganda, was completely dismissed by the Magistrates Court because there was no evidence. In November defence lawyer Muchadehama argued the ‘court must take a practical view of the case. Could a man from the street go to Pomona Barracks and steal arms?’

Last year the state accused former ZBC TV presenter Jestina Mukoko, and a number of other opposition activists, of recruiting bandits to train in Botswana with the aim of toppling the regime. But as with all these cases the state has never secured a single conviction, and judge after judge has thrown out case after case.

By SW radio