HARARE – Thirty-five local election agents seized by police on election day last August and charged with a plot to illegally announce poll results have taken Police Commissioner General Godwin Matanga and the Home Affairs Minister to court demanding release of their gadgets confiscated during their arrest.
The members constitute Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) and Election Resource Centre (ERC) employees and volunteers.
The State was forced to drop charges before plea nearly a month ago for lack of evidence in their alleged breach of the Electoral Act.
Following the development, they now want their mobile phones and laptops returned, their lawyers said in a statement.
“The ZESN, ERC employees and volunteers, who are represented by Kossam Ncube of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights want the High Court to order ZRP Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga and Home Affairs Minister, Hon. Kazembe to release their electronic gadgets which were confiscated on 23 August by some ZRP officers, who raided their offices and arrested them.
“In response to the request, the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) argued that it is unable to release the gadgets owing to some undisclosed and pending investigations, which the ZRP was carrying out in spite of the criminal charges having been withdrawn,” lawyers said.
Prosecutor Lancelot Mutsokoti admitted they failed to find evidence incriminating the suspects for the past nine months.
Alec Muchadehama, representing the group, said, “There was no offence committed as we had insisted from the time they were arrested.”
They had challenged their placement on remand arguing that their arrest was unlawful.
On their initial remand, the observers complained they were tortured before being brought to court.
Muchadehama said they were made to lie on their stomachs while their cell phones, laptops and other gadgets they were using were taken away.
The police seized their personal cell phones after demanding passwords, switched them off and put some on flight mode before they took them away.
Muchadehama said his clients were detained in stinky cells full of bugs with no ablution facilities.
