ZIMBABWE – A court in Zimbabwe released an opposition leader and 34 activists on Wednesday after imposing suspended prison sentences related to their involvement in an event deemed unlawful by authorities.
Magistrate Collet Ncube handed down a suspended two-year prison term to Jameson Timba, who is the interim head of a faction of the divided Citizens Coalition for Change party, after he and the others spent over five months in custody. The sentences for the activists were shorter but also suspended.
The convictions were made last week, but the court also acquitted 30 individuals who had been imprisoned alongside Timba.
The police detained them at Timba’s home in Harare, charging them with disorderly conduct and participating in a gathering believed to incite violence, disrupt peace, or propagate bigotry. However, the court cleared them of disorderly conduct charges in September.
According to their legal representatives, the group had gathered for a barbecue to celebrate the Day of the African Child, an event recognized by the African Union.
Amnesty International criticized the detentions as indicative of a troubling trend of oppression exercised by Zimbabwean authorities under President Emmerson Mnangagwa. They have called for an inquiry into reports of torture faced by some activists while in police custody.
Since its establishment, Mnangagwa’s ruling ZANU-PF party has faced accusations of leveraging the police and judicial systems to suppress opposition, a tactic that has roots in the tenure of the previous autocrat, Robert Mugabe, who was in power for 37 years before being ousted by Mnangagwa in a coup in 2017.