Court postpones bail

                                                   By Blessing Chapwati

                                                Breaking News!  21/04/2008 21:32

A Harare magistrate has postponed to tomorrow the decision to grant or deny bail to freelance journalist Frank Chikowore and six other co-accused.

The seven are being charged for public violence allegedly committed on the 15^th of April when the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) called for a mass stay away.

Chikowore was among a handful of people who were arrested on allegations of blocking traffic and inciting violence and torching a bus in one of Harare's western suburbs.

Presenting arguments in court, lawyers representing the group said police have struggled to pin substantive charges on the accused.

"We have noted with concern that the police have labored to place charges on the accused. The state is making bold statements without any substantive evidence," said Aleck Muchadehama of Mbizvo Muchadehama and associates representing the group.

The charges has shifted by the day from arson, attempted murder of the 72 passengers who were aboard the torched bus and the final charge for public violence.

"There is no connection between the accused and the offence being laid against them," Muchadehama said.

Freelance journalist Chikowore was arrested together with MDC activists who at the time of arrest were having lunch in Warren Park, one of Harare's western suburbs. Upon arrest, he was taken to his house where the police officers took away his journalistic equipment.

Lawyers representing the group have accused the police for infringing the rights of the accused by denying them access to legal representation and medical attention.

Most of the people who were arrested on the 15^th have been detained for a week without appearing in court within the stipulated 48 hours.

State security agencies have been on a fishing expedition for opposition supporters in both rural and urban areas.

Hundreds of people have been assaulted by soldiers and the dreaded Central Intelligence Organization members in beer halls and sometimes in their homes.

An unofficial curfew has been imposed across Zimbabwe's towns where in some areas residents are being required to be indoors by seven pm, denying the freedom of movement and association.