HARARE – Lawyers for two student activists denied bail are making a High Court application to secure their freedom.
Prince Gora, 24, of Epworth and Youngerson Matete, 29, of Warren Park were arrested on October 27 and charged with kidnapping when they appeared before Harare magistrate Judith Taruvinga two days later.
Taruvinga denied the duo bail after upholding prosecution arguments that they might abscond.
They were remanded in custody to November 12.
Their lawyer Tachiona Dube of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said they will appeal the magistrate’s refusal to grant bail at the High Court.
Prosecutors say Gora and Matete, who face an alternative charge of participating in a gathering with intent to promote public violence, took part in a protest outside Impala Car Rental Motor Spares shop in central Harare during which they padlocked the front entrance and left.
The duo, who are both students at the Harare Institute of Technology, were demanding the release of Takudzwa Ngadziore, the Zimbabwe National Students Union leader who was in prison at the time accused of participating in an illegal gathering after he held a news conference outside Impala Car Rental, a company whose vehicle was used in the abduction and torture of student Tawanda Muchehiwa by state security agents.
Prosecutor Lancelot Mutsokoti said the students, who were part of a larger group, held placards written ‘Free Taku Now’, ‘Justice for Taku and Tawanda’, ‘No To Abductions And Torture’ and ‘Taku is Innocent – Free Him Now or Risk Closure of Impala.’
