The 83 members arrested after a peaceful protest to mark International Peace Day appeared in a routine remand hearing in Harare Magistrate’s Court this morning. They were further remanded out of custody to 3 January 2011. This was to allow the usual prosecutor to return from leave. The state had provided a public prosecutor that had no record of the case.

When the group last appeared in court on 1 December, the magistrate had promised that they would be removed off remand if the state’s case was not in order on the 29th. Yet magistrate Donald Ndirowei chose to ignore this earlier promise. 

The group has been charged under the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, Chapter 46, as read with Section 2(v) of the Third Schedule to the Criminal Code – ‘criminal nuisance’.