Zimbabwean award-winning novelist and filmmaker, Tsitsi Dangarembga and her friend Julie Gabriel Barnes were on Thursday 29 September 2022 sentenced to serve a six-month jail term after they were found guilty of inciting public violence in 2020.
The duo say they will lodge an appeal against their conviction and sentence.
They were arrested on 31 July 2020 and charged with participating in a public gathering with the intention to promote public violence, breach of peace or bigotry as defined in Section 37(1)(b) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
During the trial, prosecutors alleged that they participated in a demonstration in the Borrowdale suburb in Harare while holding some placards inscribed “Free Hopewell, free Jacob #Zimbabwe”, “We want better reform our institution” and “Free our journalists”.
On Thursday 29 September 2022, Magistrate Mateko convicted Dangarembga and Barnes and sentenced them to pay ZWL70 000 each failure of which they would serve a six-month jail term.
The duo is represented by Chris Mhike of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.