Journalists charged and expected to appear in court

(MISA/IFEX) – Four journalists arrested by Zimbabwean police on 8 February 1999 have been charged and were to appear in the Magistrate’s Court in Harare on 9 February at 11a.m. (local time). The news and managing editor of the “Zimbabwe Mirror”, Fernando Goncalves, reporter Grace Kwinjeh and former news editor Farai Mungazi were arrested on […]

(MISA/IFEX) – Four journalists arrested by Zimbabwean police on 8
February 1999 have been charged and were to appear in the Magistrate’s
Court in Harare on 9 February at 11a.m. (local time). The news and
managing editor of the “Zimbabwe Mirror”, Fernando Goncalves, reporter
Grace Kwinjeh and former news editor Farai Mungazi were arrested on the
morning of 8 February. The publisher of the “Zimbabwe Mirror”, Ibbo
Mandaza, later went to the police
himself and said that as editor-in-chief he was equally responsible for
the story for which the other journalists had been arrested. Mandaza was
subsequently also held. Goncalves and Mungazi were released later in the
day, but Kwinjeh and Mandaza were held overnight.

**Updates IFEX alerts of 9 February and 8 February 1999**

All four have been charged under Section 50 (a) (2) of the Law and Order
Maintenance Act, which states that anybody who publishes a false story
which is likely to cause “fear, alarm or despondency among the public or
any section of the public…shall be guilty of an offence and liable to
imprisonment for a period not exceeding seven years, unless he satisfies
the court that before making, publishing or reproducing as the case may
be, the statement…he took reasonable measures to verify the accuracy
thereof.”

Background Information

The article, written by Kwinjeh, reported on a Zimbabwean casualty in
the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose family,
apparently, was sent only his head for burial. The government denied
these allegations, and in fact, a few weeks after the story appeared,
the authorities claimed to have exhumed the soldier’s body to prove the
story wrong. The production editor of the “Zimbabwe Mirror”, Trevor
Harris, told MISA, however, that they had stuck to their story because
they were not invited to the alleged exhumation, nor did they ever get
to see the actual body.

The latest arrests brought to seven the number of journalists who had
been detained in Zimbabwe since the beginning of the year. On 12 and 19
January, respectively, the editor of the “Standard”, Mark Chavunduka,
and reporter Ray Choto were held over a story in their paper on 10
January alleging a coup plot in Zimbabwe. The government said there was
no such plot and charged them with publishing a false story likely to
cause alarm and despondency. Both men were held illegally without any
access to their lawyers or family, while also being subjected to serious
torture at the hands of military interrogators.

They were released on 21 January on bail of Zim$10,000 (approx. US$258),
and were remanded to appear for trial on 22 February. On 22 January, the
day after their release, police arrested the managing director of “The
Standard”, Clive Wilson, and held him in jail for three nights. Wilson
was released unconditionally on 23 January after the Attorney General
refused to prosecute him for what he said was the police’s lack of
evidence.

Recommended Action

His Excellency President Robert Mugabe

Office of the President

Causeway, Harare

Zimbabwe

Fax: +263 4 708 557

Mr Moven Mahachi

Zimbabwe Minister of Defence

Fax: +263 4 796 762