A NUMBER of Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) activists yesterday had visible scars of torture when they appeared in court charged with attending an unlawful gathering.
Former Minister of State and current chief administrator bureau of CCC, Jameson Zvidzai Timba, is one of the accused persons.
He appeared alongside 78 others before Harare magistrate Ruth Moyo.
They were arrested on Sunday at Timba’s house, where they were commemorating the Day of the Africa Child, according to party officials.
Yesterday, the prosecution alleged that the CCC members were facing a charge of participating in an illegal gathering with intent to promote public violence and disorderly conduct.
They are being represented by Agency Gumbo, Lazurus Mbereko, Jeremiah Bamu and Webster Jiti.
The group was remanded in custody to today for bail application.
Bamu challenged further detention of his clients saying it was in violation of their constitutional rights since they have been in prison cells for more than 48 hours.
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The defence argued that the law provides that any detention that exceeds 48 hours is unconstitutional in terms of the law and the court is obligated to order their immediate release.
Prosecutor Thomas Chanakira alleged that on June 16, police were tipped off that there was an unsanctioned gathering for the purposes of engaging in an unlawful demonstration in Harare.
The court heard that the police called for back up after noticing that the accused persons were behaving in a riotous manner.
Chanakira further alleged that the accused persons hurled stones at the police officers, resulting in two of them being injured.
It is alleged that the accused persons only stopped after police teargassed them to contain the situation.
