Prominent Zimbabwean journalist and documentary filmmaker Hopewell Chin’ono has been granted bail by the High Court.
Hopewell Chin’ono who had been denied bail by a Harare magistrate Lanzini Ncube was finally granted ZWL $20 000 bail by High Court judge, Justice Davison Foroma. after spending 20 days behind bars at Chikurubi Maximum Prison.
This development was confirmed by one of his lawyers Doug Coltart on his official Twitter:
Chin’ono was arrested on the 8th of January for the third time within six months. He was arrested together with MDC-Alliance deputy chairman Job Sikhala and MDC Alliance Spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere for allegedly publishing falsehoods in a case involving a child who was initially said to have been struck and killed by a baton-wielding Harare police officer who was enforcing the country’s lockdown regulations.
He was denied bail a couple of times as the magistrate argued that he had a propensity to commit offenses and should be kept in jail because he had two other cases against him still pending in the courts.
Meanwhile, Fadzayi Mahere was granted $10 000 bail by magistrate Trynos Utahwashe last week, while Job Sikhala, is currently before Justice Tawanda Chitapi, awaiting his bail appeal hearing.
