No longer in cuffs – Zimbabwe War Veterans former spokesman Douglas Mahiya.
Zimbabwe’s war veterans are celebrating after a Harare magistrate suspended their trial and removed their five leaders from the remand roll.
They had been put on trial for insulting the 92-year-old president, Robert Mugabe, under a controversial law.
However the state, which the defence accused of being disorganised, failed to produce a valid prosecution certificate.
It will now have to proceed by summons if it decides to reinstate the charges.
The five were arrested in July and August after an unsigned communique went public.
The document, allegedly authored by the politically influential war veterans association, labelled President Mugabe egocentric and dictatorial and threatened to withdraw its support for his 2018 election campaign.
Defence attorney Beatrice Mtetwa says that while the group’s bail conditions have been dropped, she cannot anticipate what the prosecution’s next move will be.
Source: BBC Africa /Photo Credit: AFP/GETTY
