MDC Alliance trio, Joana Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri, and Netsai Marova were among more than 50 activists who staged a protest in Harare demanding the release of their colleague, Haruzivishe Makomborero.
The picketers who were holding placards branded “Free Mako Now” and “Stop Judicial Capture,” staged a flash protest outside the Harare High Court on Thursday.
Makomborero, a pro-democracy campaigner, is being charged with kidnapping, participating in a gathering with intent to commit public violence, and breaching peace or bigotry.
Addressing protesters after Makomborero had been denied bail Thursday, Mamombe said:
We are worried that this weaponization of law by the police and growing persecution of activists has a pernicious and gnawing effect on our ‘nascent’ democracy.
Today we send a clear and unequivocal message to this regime. We are not afraid! We will not be neutral in the face of brutality and weaponization of the law. We will not stand aside while our country is turned into a banana republic. Our resolve is unshakeable and our faith in a new Zimbabwe unbreakable.
Makomborero’s lawyers claim the former Zimbabwe National Students Union secretary-general was arrested last week at gunpoint and were probably intending to torture him.
They also claim that the security agents who took Makomborero were forced to drop him off at Harare Central police station after he screamed hysterically.
The state alleges that Makomborero, together with others, forced his way into Impala Motor Spares and detained employees whom they accused of causing the arrest of their colleague Takudzwa Ngadziore last year.
He is denying the charges.
More: ZimLive