Court to decide on Chiyangwa remand

Court to decide on Chiyangwa remand

CHIYANGWA arrives in court on Wednesday (Picture courtesy of The Daily Mirror)

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By Staff Reporter

LAWYERS for President Robert Mugabe's nephew, the Chinhoyi legislator and top Zimbabwean business mogul Phillip Chiyangwa, petitioned a Harare magistrate to remove him from remand on Thursday.

A magistrate was expected to rule on the application on Friday.

Chiyangwa faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted for allegedly selling official State secrets to foreign agents under Zimbabwe's Official Secrets Act.

The public and media have been barred from hearing the exact details of the charges against Chiyangwa and three other high profile people, including Zimbabwe's ambassador to Mozambique.

Chiyangwa's lawyers and State attorneys are politely rejecting any media interviews insisting they are under strict instruction not to discuss the case because of national security concerns.

Chiyangwa appeared in court for the second time this week on Thursday now clad in brand new khakhi prison garb. He had a brief chat with his family -- including his two wives before he was whisked away to his makeshift remand prison believed to be the One Commando army barracks just outside Harare.

On Wednesday when Chiyangwa's lawyers expressed intent to ask the court to remove him from remand, they told a Harare magistrate that he had been blindfolded and tortured by his captors while in detention.

Chiyangwa's lead attorney Canaan Dube claimed the Zanu PF Mashonaland West provincial chairman was kidnapped and detained under humiliating conditions by agents from the Central Intelligence Organisation.

Dube told the court that the legislator was blindfolded and moved from place to place, detained in solitary confinement with no toilet facilities, subjected to intimidation, threats and interrogated for hours without rest.

“He was moved from place to place where it was stinking of human urine. He is a hypertension patient, a condition known to the captors,” Dube told a packed court.

“His health seriously deteriorated due to the ill-treatment to the extent that he suffered a mild stroke which was confirmed by Dr Mangwiro and a government doctor (Dr Mandishora), who both recommended he be hospitalised, but the captors ignored.”

Dube further alleged that since Chiyangwa was kidnapped, he was persistently denied access to his lawyers.

Lloyd Mhishi and Selby Hwacha is assisting Dube.
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