Feb, 2nd 2021 – Zimbabwean opposition activists and a member of parliament have been arrested for using abusive and obscene language against police officers. Police said the three, Joanna Mamombe, Netsai Marova and Cecilia Chimbiri were arrested on Monday after holding a demonstration outside a government building in the capital, Harare.
The three, all members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, were also in June last year arrested, for lying about being tortured in custody.
They alleged state agents abducted them from the police, beat and sexually assaulted them and forced them to drink each other’s urine. The police denied the accusations but the UN experts have called for the prosecution of the alleged people who committed the outrageous crime.
The MDC has tweeted that the latest arrest was an escalation of the government’s war of attrition against opposition activists.
BREAKING: MDC trio Joanna Mamombe, Cecillia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova have been arrested at the offices of their lawyers. @PoliceZimbabwe had been following them under an nuclear surveillance. Charges relate to an alleged fake abduction report. pic.twitter.com/x9LGkabEKt
— MDC Alliance (@mdczimbabwe) June 10, 2020
According to a statement by the police, it is still unclear what the demonstrations were about. It read, “The Zimbabwe Republic Police confirms the arrest of Joanna Mamombe [MP], Netsai Marova and Cecilia Chimbiri in Harare after a flash demonstration outside the New Government Complex.”
It added, “The trio who were in a Toyota Fortuner without number plates followed a police vehicle with officers who had attended the scene and used abusive language on the officers thus leading to their arrest.”
According to Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, the three women made up their stories to shift the attention from the fact that they did not adhere to lockdown rules by attending a protest.
This is after they all narrated their story from a hospital in the capital, Harare, where they were receiving treatment.