TWO High Court judges on Tuesday ordered the immediate release of seven men detained in 2007 over an alleged plot to overthrow President Robert Mugabe and install Defence Minister Emerson Mnangagwa as his successor.
Nyasha Zivuku, Oncemore Mazivahona, Emmanuel Marara, Patson Mupfure, Shingirai Mutemachani, Rangarirai Maziofa and their alleged leader, former army captain Albert Matapo, faced treason charges which carry the death penalty.
Justices Yunus Omerjee and Joseph Musakwa, sitting at the Harare High Court, said the men should never have been returned to custody once their case was dismissed by another judge in July last year.
Last July, a judge acquitted the group after ruling that their rights had been violated because prosecutors failed to bring them to court for trial within six months as required by the law.
But prosecutors immediately charged them once more, forcing defence lawyers to challenge the re-indictment which led to Tuesday’s ruling.
“The appellants were not liable to be committed to custody upon being re-indicted,” Justice Musakwa said, reading from a seven-page judgement.
The men’s lawyer Charles Hwarara said he was not sure if they would be released late Tuesday.
“I hope they will be released this time but I don’t know what the Attorney General’s office is thinking of doing after this ruling. All I can say is that if they think of keeping them inside obviously it’s something illegal and might bring problems for them because they obviously know that the law has been clearly spelt out,” Hwarara told Radio VoP.
Mnangagwa, who was named as the would-be beneficiary of the alleged coup plot in court papers, has denied any connection to Matapo and his group, describing them in 2007 as "stupid".