By Staff Reporter
Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) interim leader James Timba and 34 other activists were finally released on Wednesday after spending over five months behind bars.
The 35 were handed suspended sentences for participating in an unauthorized gathering and disorderly conduct.
Delivering her judgment, Magistrate Collet Ncube said they were first-time offenders and deserved another chance.
“The court believes that since they are first-time offenders, they should be given another chance. Many of them struggle to raise even the fine, and most are breadwinners with unstable sources of income. Their continued detention would only burden their families,” she said.
Ncube acquitted the other 30 last week and convicted Timba and the remaining 34 activists, who were released on Wednesday.
The rest of the activists were released earlier on bail under different circumstances.
Timba received a two-year suspended sentence, while their male counterparts were handed 16-month suspended sentences. Female activists involved in the case received 12-month suspended sentences.
The group was arrested at Timba’s residence in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital city, and charged with two offenses: disrupting public order and participating in a gathering aimed at promoting violence.
However, in September, the court cleared them of the public order disturbance charges.
According to their legal representatives, the group had assembled at the residence for a barbecue event marking the Day of the African Child, a celebration recognized by the African Union.
