Hopewell Chin’ono arrest was uncalled for : Chamisa

 
Movement for Democratic Change leader Nelson Chamisa says that the  arrest of Investigative Journalist Hopewell Chin’nono was not necessary and is clear definition of a crisis in the country.

Chamisa states that Chin’ono should not have been arrested for exercising his rights.

Chin’ono was arrested last week on allegations of defeating or obstructing the course of justice.

He  is being accused of breaching his bail conditions by tweeting about the court outcome of a gold smuggling scandal despite a ban on him posting on Twitter as part of his bail conditions. 

MDC Alliance leader while briefing the media following  Hopewell’s grant of bail said that having to deal with such issues in the arrest of Hopewell as a country shows that there is an urgent crisis and his arrest was not even supposed to take place.

“People like hopewell should not be terrorised for simply exercising their rights , his arrest in the first place was not called for  these are sort of things that attract pariah status and a banana republic.”

“The fact of the matter is that journalism is not a crime , the fact that we are dealing with hopewell is a confirmation that indeed there is a crisis in the country  things are not adding up , things are hanging upside down,” he said.
Chamisa added that its an urgent crisis that needs to be addressed  by a return to democracy , a return to the rule of law a return to openness.

Chin’ono spent close to 17 days in detention , prior to his second detention  he was arrested in July on charges of inciting public violence.
He was released on $ZWL10 000 bail at his fourth attempt after spending 45 days at Chikurubi Maximum.

Meanwhile , he has been granted bail by the high court  on the same conditions to the previous one.
Chamisa says that he is entitled to bail , it his right and he should not have been arrested.

In a statement on Friday The US Embassy in Harare said it is closely monitoring the Zimbabwean government’s use of the legal system to harass and punish journalist Hopewell Chin’ono for reporting on corruption.

The Embassy reiterated that one of the cornerstones of democracies is that they encourage press freedoms and that they do not jail journalists