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video had no good intentions.
“Watching the video is not a crime, however, the manner at which they watched it was meant to arouse feelings of hostility to those present in the meeting. Watching it in those circumstances was nasty and pathetic.”
He said people who attended the meeting knew what was going to be said since it was highlighted on the invitations.
“It is not in dispute that the invitations had all the issues to be discussed. Taking into account what was written on the invitations and the agenda of the meeting, one can safely conclude that the meeting was not innocent and academic, but was meant to urge people to revolt against the Government of Zimbabwe,” said Mr Jarabini.
He said Gwisai failed to defend himself while testifying, putting the blame on his memory saying that he could not recall some of the things he said in the meeting.
“About the speeches, surprisingly accused 1 (Gwisai), in his evidence-in-chief put the blame on his memory saying he could not recall saying anything about Zanu-PF or MDC-T, this means that either he said it or did not but the evidence led by the State witness showed that he said it.”
The magistrate further said the six accused persons could not deny what the second State witness, Detective Sergeant Jonathan Shoko, told the court since he was part of the meeting and heard all what they said.
He, however, blasted the six’s defence for dwelling much on the identity of Det Sgt Shoko, which was less important in the matter before the court.
He said the defence lawyer questioned the identity of the State witness and was shown his police identification card, which he just looked at and handed it back to him probably in satisfaction.
He said if they doubted his identity, they should have called an expert, which was not done, or seek the intervention of the Registrar-General’s Office on issues of identity.
“It is the court’s finding that the State’s evidence is credible and having said all the above, the essential elements of the offence of conspiring to commit public violence have been satisfied and the State managed to prove its case beyond any reasonable doubt therefore I find the accused persons guilty,” he said.
The offence was committed on February 19 last year at Zimbabwe Labour Centre, at Number 43 Julius Nyerere Way in Harare.
Gwisai, a co-ordinator of the International Socialist Organisation and five others agreed to forcibly and to a serious extent disturb peace, security or order of the public in Zimbabwe.
They agreed to mobilise the people of Zimbabwe to revolt against the Government and demand the resignation of President Mugabe the same way some Egyptians had done to their leader Hosni Mubarak.
Online Reporter