HARARE – A Czech citizen and travel vlogger detained in Zimbabwe for 23 days after recording a video stating that there was no electricity and water at his hotel in Masvingo was deported on Saturday, lawyers said.

Lukas Slavik was initially accused of publishing falsehoods – a law that has been removed from Zimbabwe’s statutes. The charges were later changed to criminal nuisance, but a magistrate acquitted him after a brief trial.

A second man arrested with Slavik, Tom Ssekamwa of Uganda, was also acquitted on the same charge on Monday this week after police said they found a sex toy, a rubber penis, inside a bag in his hotel room.

Masvingo magistrate Isaac Chikura ruled that possession of an artificial penis could not compromise the public or cause any nuisance to the public as Ssekamwa did not have any intention of using the penis in public.

Ssekamwa alternatively faced a charge under the Censorship Act which prohibits “possession of any publication, picture, statue or record that is indecent or obscene or prohibited.” That charge was also thrown out by Chikura.

The two men’s lawyer, Advocate Knowledge Mabvuure of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights on Tuesday said Ssekamwa was now in the custody of the department of immigration awaiting removal from Zimbabwe.

“The challenge we have at the moment is that he needs to buy his own air ticket to leave the country, and his phone through which he can access his funds is still being held by the police. We are engaging the police to expedite the process,” Mubvuure told ZimLive.

Slavik left Zimbabwe on Saturday, a day after magistrate Chikura threw out charges against him.

Chikura, in his ruling, said he was satisfied with Slavik’s explanation that he recorded the video for great memories for himself as a tourist.

He said Slavik did not make false statements as alleged by the state. He also concluded that there was no evidence from police witnesses that Slavik was a public nuisance.

A charge of criminal nuisance can be preferred under section 46 of the Criminal Law Codification Reform Act against anyone who unlawfully and intentionally causes annoyance to the public.

The prosecution led by Tarisai Muvengi said Slavik had stated on the video: “People were fighting at the police station and police is chasing them away. We have had 12 hours without electricity. At Backpackers Lodge where I stay, there is no water. The accommodation charge is US$25-30 per day and it is not worth it. Apparently the president is supposed to come today.”

These were the statements which police described as falsehoods. He was kept in prison for 20 days before his full trial.

Advocate Mabvuure, in Slavik’s defence, said his client’s conduct on the day did not materially interfere with the ordinary comfort, convenience, peace or quiet of the public. He argued that the mere act of self-recording a video and providing a narrative to that video does not constitute a crime.

Magistrate Chikura said the utterances made in the video by Slavik that people were fighting can be interpreted as an expression of opinion rather than factual information in legal interpretations and his proximity to the crowd suggested that he was an observer rather than an active participant and therefore not a nuisance.

“When the accused took the video, he was far away from the people, causing no annoyance or disturbance and the video was taken for the purposes of creating great memories for himself,” said Chikura.

Michal Novak, the deputy Czech ambassador to Zimbabwe, said: “After three weeks of him being detained, we are happy that the court ruled and acquitted him. Obviously three weeks spent in prison must have been very difficult for our national and we are glad that the proceedings resulted in his acquittal.”

Slavik travels around the world with Ssekamwa and regularly records videos which he posts on his YouTube channel, Dudy Travelling.

They arrived in Zimbabwe on July 27 and were arrested on August 2, less than a week into their holiday.

He describes himself online as a “professional project manager on a sabbatical building a safe home for children in Uganda” as a volunteer at Yimusa Ministries.

(Additional reporting Masvingo Mirror)