Madzore arrested for criticising Mugabe

By Lance Guma

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HARARE – MDC-T Youth Assembly president Solomon Madzore was on Thursday arrested by police on allegations of ‘undermining the authority of the president’ an offence under oppressive legislation enacted by Mugabe’s regime.

According to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party, Madzore was arrested this morning by police officers from the Harare Central Police Station’s Law and Order Section over comments made at a rally he addressed last month.

The police, accused of propping up Zanu PF by targeting its opponents, are claiming Madzore addressed an MDC-T rally in Mbire, Mashonaland Central province where he made insulting remarks about President Robert Mugabe.

Madzore’s exact offending words during the rally were not yet clear at the time of writing. The MDC-T Youth Assembly has been holding nationwide rallies.

“Madzore has been ordered to wait for police officers from Bindura who will take him there for further investigations and detention,” the MDC-T said.

“The MDC views the arrest of Madzore as nothing but another desperate attempt by a panicking Zanu PF to cow the people ahead of the next elections in which Zanu PF is destined for a massive defeat by the MDC,” the party said.

The party urged its supporters not to fear the harassment of the police saying they were just being used by “the sunset party Zanu PF.”

“These are the last kicks of a dying horse and all eligible voters should ensure that they are registered voters ahead of the next elections. The coming elections are the first step towards the reconstruction of this country,” the party said.

Questions to national police spokesman Charity Charamba had not been answered at the time of going to press.

Only last year in November Madzore was released from Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison after where he spent over 14 months in remand along with a group of nearly 30 MDC-T activists charged with killing a policeman.

The state has been accused of having a weak case especially given passionate testimony from the murdered policeman’s father and brother that the murder was committed by state security agents and the MDC-T activists were innocent.

The presiding judge, Justice Chinembiri Bhunu has also said “Since his (Madzore) alibi was checked and confirmed by police, I wonder why he was kept in custody beyond initial remand, when they is nothing triable on his part”.

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