Members of the election watchdog, Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn), arrested during the August 2023 harmonised elections, were yesterday set free after the State indicated that it did not have sufficient evidence for them to face trial.
The Zesn members appeared before magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa.
Prosecutor Lancelot Mutsokoti said the members were being removed from remand because the State had insufficient evidence.
The group was being represented by Alec Muchadehama and Kossam Ncube from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.
Muchadehama had, in the members’ last court appearance, raised a number of complaints including police’s failure to advise them of the reason for their arrest.
He further highlighted that the police harassed his clients while armed with AK-47 assault rifles.
Allegations are that on August 23 last year, the 40 Zesn and Election Resource Centre members were found collating results of the harmonised elections, which is deemed illegal.
It is alleged that they consolidated the election results with the intention of announcing them to the public before the official announcement by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
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