26.2 C
Accra
Saturday, December 7, 2024
WorldZimbabwe issues arrest warrant for top author

Date:

Zimbabwe issues arrest warrant for top author

Zimbabwe has issued an arrest warrant for award-winning author and filmmaker Tsitsi Dangarembga after she failed to appear in court over charges of inciting violence, her lawyer said Tuesday.

Dangarembga, 63, is seeing her doctor in Germany and “missed court for medical reasons,” her lawyer Chris Mhike told AFP.

“We expect her to be well enough to return to Zimbabwe imminently, and to attend to the outstanding court processes.”

Dangarembga was arrested in July 2020 for staging an anti-government protest alongside her neighbour in the affluent Harare suburb of Borrowdale.

Standing by the roadside, she held a banner that read “We want better — reform our institutions.”

Dangarembga was charged with inciting public violence and freed on bail the following day.

Nearly two years on, the trial has still not started and Dangarembga has filed to have the case thrown out for lack of evidence.

A magistrate’s court on Monday was due to rule on her request, but issued the arrest warrant when she failed to show up.

Dangarembga will seek to have the warrant cancelled, said the lawyer.

Dangarembga was charged after staging a roadside protest on the anniversary of President Emmerson Mnangagwa's election
Dangarembga was charged after staging a roadside protest on the anniversary of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s election.

The ruling on the application for discharge will now be handed down on August 4.

Dangarembga stepped into the international limelight in 1988 with her debut novel “Nervous Conditions,” the first book published in English by a black Zimbabwean woman.

The work earned her the prestigious Commonwealth Writers’ Prize the following year.

The Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) last week called on the Zimbabwe government to clear Dangarembga “of all charges, or to drop the case.”

Source:briefly.co.zo

[forminator_poll id="710479"]

Latest stories

Heightened security in Bawku amid ongoing elections

Security has been tightened in Bawku as Ghanaians head...

Ghana shuts all land borders for 48 hours amid election security measures

The Ministry of the Interior has announced the closure...

Ghana Votes 2024: Live Election Updates

Welcome to The Independent Ghana's live coverage of the...

EC says police has questioned it’s official for transporting election materials in private vehicle

Ghana Police Service has questioned an Electoral Commission official...

Dec. 7 Polls: I am the future, Mahama is the past – Bawumia to Ghanaians

New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) presidential candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia,...

Make sure to take this election seriously – Samson Anyenini advises citizens

Lawyer Samson Lardy Anyenini has advised citizens not to...

Related stories

Biden grants full pardon to son Hunter amid criminal sentencing

US President Joe Biden has granted a full and...

Court issues 2-year suspended death sentence to former Bank of China Chair for bribery, others

Former Bank of China chairman Liu Liange on Tuesday received...

Ghanaians among UN peacekeepers injured in Southern Lebanon attacks

The UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon has reported...

Russia denies Trump told Putin to restrain Ukraine war efforts

The Kremlin has rejected media reports suggesting that US...

More than 100 detained as protesters defy Amsterdam’s ban on protests

Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested in Amsterdam on...

Traffic jam erupts as cyclists from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng for dumplings

A social media trend that began as a lighthearted...

Adin Ross wins $1.6m on Trump election bet after public endorsement

American streamer and social media influencer Adin Ross scored...