Acquitted MDC activist Tungamirai Madzokere said his relatives did not tell him that his wife had taken their kids and left their matrimonial home eight months ago.
Madzokere and another MDC activist Last Maengahama spent eight years in prison for a crime that they did not commit.
The two were acquitted by the Supreme Court last Friday and were released from Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison the same afternoon.
They were serving a 20-year prison term each, on charges of murdering a police officer Petros Mutedza in 2011.
Addressing journalists at Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) offices in Harare, on Monday Madzokere said his joy was short-lived when he got home after his release. He said:
… my joy was short-lived when I got home after my release and found my wife had gone.
She left home eight months ago. Those are some of the consequences of unlawful detention.
She stood by me for a long time. We loved each other, we even considered having a white wedding while I was in prison, but we later suspended that.
I do not blame her. She was a young wife, maybe she lost hope and probably wanted a happier marriage.
When I got home she was not around, and she took all the household property. I do not even know where to start. As you can see I am very down.
I am yet to get access to my children. I expected to get home and at least be happy again, but family members said they could not tell me while I was still incarcerated as they felt it could affect me.
While in prison, Madzokere managed to further his studies and now holds a diploma in public relations, and is in his final semester, studying for an honours degree in development studies.
He is also set to publish three books he wrote while in unlawful detention, and during the time he served as a voluntary ‘O’ Level sociology teacher to prison inmates and was the Chikurubi Prison Football Association’s chairperson.