HUMAN rights lawyers are working on filing an appeal against the conviction and imprisonment of prominent pro-democracy campaigner Makomborero Haruzivishe after he was imprisoned for 20 months by Harare Magistrate Judith Taruvinga on charges of inciting public violence and resisting arrest by law enforcement agents.
Source: Haruzivishe to appeal against “whistleblowing” conviction – The Zimbabwean
Makomborero Haruzivishe
Magistrate Taruvinga, who on Wednesday 31 March 2021 convicted
Haruzivishe, sentenced him on Tuesday 6 April 2021 to serve 36 months
in jail. However, 16 months of his sentence were suspended on
condition
that he does not commit the same offence and gets convicted.
On the first count of incitement as defined in section 187 of the
Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, Magistrate Taruvinga
sentenced Haruzivishe to serve 24 months in prison of which 10 months
were suspended for a period of five years.
On the second count of resisting a peace officer as defined in section
176 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, the
pro-democracy campaigner was sentenced to serve 12 months of which six
months were suspended for a period of five years.
The 28 year-old Haruzivishe, who was represented by Kossam Ncube of
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, was arrested by Zimbabwe Republic
Police (ZRP) officers on 5 February 2020 and charged with inciting
public violence and resisting arrest by law enforcement agents.
During trial, prosecutors alleged that Haruzivishe incited some
vendors to commit public violence by whistling to them when some ZRP
officers were on an operation to round up informal traders in Harare’s
central business district.
Haruzivishe, the prosecutors charged, also resisted arrest by some
police officers who wanted to apprehend him.
The former Zimbabwe National Students Union leader, also has some
pending cases in court of which he was arrested in 2020 and in 2021
including that of allegedly kidnapping and locking up some Impala Car
Rental employees in their offices accusing the car rental company of
aiding the abduction and disappearance of Tawanda Muchehiwa, a media
studies student at Midlands State University student, by leasing out
its vehicles to some state security agents.
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