HARARE magistrate court yesterday resembled a funeral parlour as relatives and friends wailed on seeing their abducted Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) members who were badly tortured while in police...
HARARE magistrate court yesterday resembled a funeral parlour as relatives and friends wailed on seeing their abducted Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) members who were badly tortured while in police custody.
The nine MDC members, some of them put on life support system, appeared at the court yesterday after days in police custody.
They were arrested last Tuesday and Wednesday at their homes while others were arrested at the party's headquarters in Harare.
They were accused of being behind the spate of petrol bombings that have been taking place countrywide.
MDC national executive member Ian Makone and activists Shame Wakatama were put on a life support system and whisked to a private hospital for treatment. The other seven were helped into ambulances as they could not walk on their own. These are Glenview MP Paul Madzore, Brighton Makimba, former journalist of the banned Daily News Luke Tamborinyoka, Stanley Mutembi, Kudakwashe Matibiri, Zebediah Juada and Bertha Chokururama.
MDC MP for Kambuzuma Willias Madzimure and Evelyn Masaiti were among those who openly wept on seeing their colleagues in such a ghastly condition. Even a female police officer, who stood guard, also shed tears.
"I have been telling you all along that these people need medical attention. Makone is dying. One of these days, you will be accountable," shouted Madzimure, as Makone struggled for breath.
Young brother to Madzore, Solomon graphically described how his brother and his wife together with a two year old child were abducted. He said: "The police just bulldozed their way into our home. It was almost midnight and this came as a shock. They pushed and shoved them into a vehicle. And that was the last I saw of him until today. However, police released the wife and child after a plea from detained males."
A Harare magistrate Faith Mushure had earlier on ordered that the MDC activist be taken to hospital for treatment but the police refused to do so. Police only agreed after some of them collapsed outside the courtroom due to excessive pain.