Zimbabwean specialists ought to drop all charges against independent columnist Anyway Yotamu, examine his attack by police, and view those dependable to be answerable, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.
At around 11 a.m. on Thursday, July 7, cops attacked Yotamu while he was shooting a fight between cabbies and stopping chaperons in the focal business locale of the capital, Harare, as per the writer and his legal counselor Shamiso Dhlakama, both of whom addressed CPJ by means of informing application, numerous neighborhood media reports, a Facebook post by the Zimbabwe part of the provincial press opportunity bunch Media Institute of Southern Africa, and an assertion by the nearby Young Journalists Association, which CPJ checked on.
A gathering of five officials requested Yotamu to quit recording, hand over his telephone, and give them his secret key; when he rejected, the officials attempted to snatch his telephone, thumping it to the ground and harming it, and afterward beat Yotamu with truncheons all around his body, as indicated by those sources. Yotamu let CPJ know that he distinguished himself as a writer on various occasions during the episode, and the assault possibly halted when an individual official told them not to beat columnists.
The officials carried Yotamu to the Harare Central Police Station and showed he would be delivered without charge after his attorney interceded, Yotamu and Dhlakama told CPJ. Be that as it may, specialists turned around course before long and accused the writer of messy direct and subverting the power of the police, they said.
"Once more, police in Zimbabwe are attacking and capturing writers for just going about their responsibilities. Independent writer Anyway Yotamu is their most recent casualty, and examiners should drop the misleading charges against him," said Angela Quintal, CPJ's Africa program facilitator, in Durban, South Africa. "It is about time that Zimbabwean specialists guarantee that cops end their assaults on columnists. Keeping up with the rule of law isn't a permit to mishandle power."
Yotamu supported wounds to his knee from the beating, for which he got clinical treatment, the columnist and Dhlakama told CPJ.
Yotamu is an independent supporter of online distributions, including Harare Times and Spiked Media.
Whenever indicted for messy direct, he could confront a fine of 30,000 Zimbabwean dollars (US$83) and a half year detainment; sabotaging the power of the police conveys as long as two years detainment and a fine of 120,000 Zimbabwean dollars (US$332), as indicated by the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act and timetable of fines.
Yotamu is planned to show up in court on Saturday, he and his legal advisor told CPJ.
Zimbabwe police representative Paul Nyathi told CPJ by telephone that he knew nothing about Yotamu's capture and resulting charges.
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