, Dec 7 () –
A Zimbabwean court on Tuesday dropped charges against journalist Hopewell Chin’ono for allegedly inciting violence in the context of anti-government protests.
For the court, prosecutors have not been able to specify how Chin’ono has incited violence by spreading a series of information through Twitter. The journalist was arrested in July 2019 and imprisoned for weeks precisely for the publication of said ‘tweets’.
Judge Siyabonga Musithu has indicated that it is “a vital requirement for the judicial system that the charges against them are presented in such a way that the accused does not have to guess what crime he committed or how he committed it,” according to information from the British news network. BBC.
The same court had ruled in April that Chin’ono had not published false information. However, he still faces obstruction of justice charges for posting a ‘tweet’ before a court ruling was issued in November 2019.
He is currently free on bail but is prohibited from using his Twitter account to disseminate information considered “incitement to revolt against the Government.”
The journalist has been a well-known critical voice against the country’s president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, and his government, whom he has accused of corruption and mismanagement. In addition, he has accused the president of trying to silence him after his arrest.
“All this is a persecution. Nothing more. Because we tell them the truth, we comment on corruption and they are looking for frivolous charges to throw at me, but the law protects me as a journalist,” he said in early 2021.
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