A Harare magistrate is set to deliver her ruling on the matter involving renowned novelist, filmmaker and cultural activist Tsitsi Dangarembga and Julie Barnes on 29 September.
Dangarembga and Barnes were arrested for allegedly participating in an anti-government protest in 2020.
According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), Harare Magistrate Barbara Mateko was supposed to hand down the ruling last Friday at the end of the trial of the duo.
However, prosecutors opposed the delivery of the verdict in the absence of Barnes, who is out of Zimbabwe on business and couldn’t attend the court session.
Dangarembga and Barnes are represented by ZLHR’s Chris Mhike. They were arrested in July 2020 and charged with participating in a public gathering with intention to promote public violence, breach of peace or bigotry as defined in Section 37(1)(b) of Criminal Code.
They were accused of participating in a demonstration in Borrowdale suburb in Harare while holding some placards inscribed “Free Hopewell, free Jacob #Zimbabwe”, “We want better reform our institution” and “Free our journalists”.