Harare – Zimbabwe opposition leader Jameson Timba and 34 allies and supporters are to be released from prison after they were given varying suspended sentences by a Harare court Wednesday.
The group had been found guilty of participating in an unlawful gathering with intent to commit public violence and have spent over five months in jail.
Timba, interim leader of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), was arrested on June 16 alongside 79 other people in a case criticised as part of a crackdown on political dissent.
Many were released but Timba and 34 others were found guilty and have been awaiting sentencing.
Late on Wednesday, Magistrate Collet Ncube gave the group suspended sentences, saying that as “first time offenders, they should be given another chance”.
Timba and Jason Kautsa, another CCC member, were sentenced to “two years wholly suspended” while over two dozen others were given lesser sentences.
Amnesty International and other rights groups said the arrests were politically motivated and part of a government clampdown.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ZANU-PF party has been in power since independence in 1980 and is often accused of stifling dissent.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Instagram/@jamesontimba
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