Jukwa: Doubts over ZRP Facebook trip

via Jukwa: Doubts over ZRP Facebook trip 07 October 2014

SUNDAY Mail editor, Edmund Kudzayi, who is on trial for terrorism, has demanded that prosecutors produce evidence proving the chief investigating officer in the case travelled to the United States for meetings with Facebook and Google officials.

A pre-emptive report citing unnamed sources in the Herald on Wednesday claimed that Assistant Commissioner Crispen Makedenge and two colleagues travelled to the US on September 20, returning home this Sunday night.

The top police detective has been accused of torture and other gross human rights abuses by the opposition and local human rights organisations.

He was implicated in the abduction of rights activist Jestina Mukoko in 2008 and faced further allegations of being involved in several abductions of opposition MDC members in Harare.

In addition, Makedenge was said to have been part of the police team accused of severely torturing some of the 29 MDC members arrested on charges of murdering a police officer.

The US embassy in Harare would not reveal whether Makedenge was granted a visa when approached by NewZimbabwe.com this week.

“The policy is that, that information remains confidential. In fact we are not allowed to give such information to anyone other than the visa applicant,” said the official on Monday.

Edmund and his brother Phillip face charges of banditry, insurgency, attempting to unseat a constitutionally elected government and terrorism.

The State claims that the duo established and ran the notorious Facebook page Baba Jukwa, allegations the brothers deny.

But come July 20, the State was not ready for trial and the case has been postponed every month since with prosecutors saying Makedenge needed to travel to the US for meetings at Google and Facebook as part of his investigations.

A frustrated Kudzayi, currently on leave from the Sunday Mail pending finalisation of the case, then applied for refusal of further remand with his lawyers demanding proof that Makedenge indeed travelled to the US.

“The court dismissed our application saying Assistant Commissioner Crispen Makedenge, the investigating officer in the case, was in the US trying to find evidence.

“This was notwithstanding again the fact that the prosecution could not provide evidence that Makedenge is indeed in the United States,” Everson Chatambudza one of Kudzayi’s lawyers told NewZimbabwe.com on Monday.

Kudzayi, who has had to present himself over 180 times to the police in Harare as part of his bail conditions, said the State case does not have half a leg to stand on and accused prosecutors of delaying the trial in a bid to save face.

“Some honest police officers from CID Law and Order told us as early as Friday (last week) that Makedenge was in the country. The fact of the matter is that he never travelled to America,” Kudzayi said.

“These are unacceptable lies which have been told in court. Why is he lying and who is he protecting?”

According to the state’s case, Edmund and Phillip planned to unseat the country’s government unconstitutionally.

The two, through the Baba Jukwa Facebook page, allegedly encouraged rebellion against President Robert Mugabe’s government if the then impending 2013 elections later won by Mugabe resoundingly amid claims of rigging were not free and fair.

Kudzayi denies the allegations and says he was actually working with sections of the country’s security services establishent to unmask the identities of the individuals who actually ran the Facebook page.

He blames his arrest on top politicians and other senior officials worried they were about to be exposed as Baba Jukwa’s collaborators.