By Shamiso Dzingire
MDC deputy president Morgen Komichi says he will lodge an appeal with the High Court challenging his conviction and sentence.
This comes after Komichi was fined $200 for disrupting electoral proceedings during the announcement of presidential election results.
Komichi was accused of invading the podium at the Harare International Conference Centre where he grabbed the microphone and announced that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission was announcing fake results.
Following Komichi’s conviction and subsequent sentence, his lawyer Obey Shava of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said he will lodge an appeal at the upper court.
“We are working on an appeal right now,” Shava said.
Shava said Komichi’s conviction will not affect his political career and future electoral participation even if he does not appeal his sentence.
“He is only disqualified where the High Court has made a declaration to that effect.
“All the circumstances which disqualify one from being a Member of Parliament (MP) or Senator are not applicable to him,” he said.
On Friday, Harare magistrate Ruramai Chitumbura also slapped Komichi with a three-month sentence wholly suspended for five years on condition that he does not within that period commit a similar offence.
In passing judgment Chitumbura said the State managed to prove a prima facie case against Komichi and that he indeed disrupted the announcement of results.
She also said Komichi did not follow procedures to air out his grievances and that his actions could have induced violence.
Last month, MDC national deputy chairperson Tendai Biti was also fined $200 or two months in prison for declaring party leader Nelson Chamisa as the 2018 presidential election winner before Zec had announced the results.
The Harare East legislator said he will appeal both his conviction and sentence at the High Court. DailyNews
