Chimanikire fined over unlicensed gun

Chimanikire fined over unlicensed gun

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By Staff Reporter

A ZIMBABWEAN court on Thursday fined a leading opposition official $1,5 million for possessing an unlicensed firearm.

Mbare MP, Gift Chimanikire and chairman of a faction of Zimbabwe's divided opposition Movement for Democratic Change was given an option to spend 15 days in jail in lieu of the fine.

The gun, a 12-bore browning shotgun, was found by police in
Chimanikire’s bedroom last year, following a raid to his flat along Harare’s Josiah Chinamano road.

In an interview Thursday, Chimanikire’s lawyer Alec Muchadehama said: “He was convicted and ordered to pay $1,5 million or spend 15 days in prison, but he has already paid."

In court Muchadehama said although it was not in dispute that Chimanikire was in possession of the firearm, he had not intention of abusing it.

He said the police were to blame because THEY had given the gun -- previously owned by his father -- to Chimanikire after it was recovered from thieves.

The police, Muchadehama added, had called Chimanikire to Guruve police station where it was recovered, and handed it to him fully aware that the firearm had no license.

The raid on Chimanikire was conducted when he was in the process of regularizing the ownership of the gun, the lawyer also said.
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