Zimbabwe court convicts opposition leader and 34 activists after 5 months of pre-trial detention

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- A Zimbabwean court has convicted an opposition leader and 34 activists on charges of participating in an unlawful gathering, more than five months after they were taken into pre-trial detention.

Jameson Timba, interim leader of a faction of the splintered Citizens Coalition for Change opposition party, and the activists face up to five years in prison or a fine. Sentencing is set for next week, said Webster Jiti, one of the activists’ lawyers.

The court acquitted 30 others who had been detained together with Timba.

Police arrested the activists on June 16 at Timba’s residence in the capital, Harare, and charged them with disorderly conduct and participating in a gathering with the intent to promote violence, breaches of peace or bigotry. The court in September acquitted them of the disorderly conduct charges.

Their lawyers said they were at the house for a barbecue to commemorate the Day of the African Child, a calendar event of the African Union.

Amnesty International described the detention as “part of a disturbing pattern of repression against people exercising their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression.” The rights group called for an investigation into allegations that some of the activists were tortured while in police detention.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who promised democratic reforms after taking over from the late repressive longtime ruler Robert Mugabe in a coup in 2017, denies the allegations, but has also repeatedly warned the opposition against inciting violence.