Maravi

Cops pick up MDC liaison officer

Cops pick up MDC liaison officer
By Brighton Phiri
Monday August 20, 2007 [04:00]

POLICE on Friday picked up Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) liaison officer Nqobizitsa Mlilo for questioning at police service headquarters. MDC press assistant Joseph Mungwari, who confirmed the arrest of Mlilo, accused Zimbabwean Intelligence agents of being behind the victimisation of the MDC official and the civil society activists, who had travelled to Lusaka for an advocacy trip.

"I can confirm that one of our officials was picked by police for questioning on Friday afternoon," Mungwari said.

Mungwari said Mlilo was picked up by plain clothes police officers who took him to Force Headquarters where he was asked to explain his mission in Zambia. He said after interrogating Mlilo, the police seized his passport before releasing him later at night. Mungwari said Mlilo was ordered to report back to the police on Saturday for further interrogation.

"After questioning him they surrendered back his passport and told him that he was free to leave the country," Mungwari said.

He said the scheme of harassment was instigated by the Zimbabwean Intelligence wing because of the MDC's advocacy trip to Lusaka at the time when the Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders were meeting at Mulungushi International Conference Centre.

"It is an attempt to pull us down because of our successful advocacy trip in Lusaka. We successfully conducted our interactive awareness meetings and released some press statements on the Zimbabwe situation. This is something that has shaken the Zimbabwean government," Mungwari said.

When contacted for comment, Mlilo referred all queries to his lawyer Arnold Tsunga. Tsunga explained that his client was picked up near Mulungushi International Conference Centre by some Zambia Intelligence officers and questioned him on his accreditation card.

"After questioning him and realising that his card was genuine, they surrendered him to police for further interrogations," Tsunga said.

He said Mlilo was detained from 11:00 hours to 23:00 hours, during which the police questioned him about his visit to Lusaka. Tsunga said the nature of the interrogations were not criminal but intelligence gathering on MDC operations.

He said before he objected to the police's interrogation techniques, Mlilo was asked to explain how MDC set up an office in South Africa, who was funding them and why they had travelled to Lusaka to disrupt the SADC summit.

"We objected with the way of questioning him because we did not think that it was proper for the police to ask such questions which are not related to criminal activities," Tsunga said.

He said on Saturday, Mlilo was further questioned and after realising that he had genuine travel documents, the police surrendered his passport and US$1,300, which they had earlier confiscated from him.

Tsunga disclosed that Zimbabwean civil activist and South Africa-based National Constitution Assembly co-ordinator Kapela Kapuya was also picked by the Intelligence officers at Pamodzi Hotel on Thursday.

He said Kapuya was detained from 15:00 to 23:30 hours at force headquarters, where he was questioned on why he was carrying placards, which denounced the Zimbabwean government. Tsunga said Kapuya had with him placards written on them "We need a new constitution in Zimbabwe...Mugabe stop violence against your own people...Mugabe stop shaming Africa."

"We did not think that the Zambian police can be manipulated by the Zimbabwean Intelligence service to target the civil society activists and legitimate political opponents," he said.

Police assistant public relations officer Crispin Kapela expressed ignorance over the arrest of Mlilo and Kapuya. "I have no information on the arrest of any MDC official...I have been quite busy with the heads of state during the SADC summit," Kapela said.

Labels: MDC

posted by MrK @ 3:42 AM