The seven members arrested in Bulawayo on Wednesday 17th June appeared on remand in Bulawayo Magistrate’s Court this morning. The state was not prepared with either the docket or state witnesses. They have been further remanded out of custody until 22nd July.

In Harare, the four members who had been arrested on 18th June and badly beaten appeared in Harare Magistrate’s Court yesterday morning. As in Bulawayo, the state was not ready with either the docket or state witnesses. Neither were the police ready to answer why the four were so badly beaten in custody. The magistrate has postponed the matter to Monday 6th July and has insisted that the state be ready on that date.

Subsequently all four members have been called into Harare Central Police Station by officers from the Law and Order Unit to give their account of what happened to them in custody.

Both groups of activists, in Harare and Bulawayo, are charged under Section 37 1 a of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act – ‘disturbing the peace, security or order of the public’.