HIGH Court judge, Justice Webster Chinamora has freed MDC Alliance activist Makomborero Haruzivishe, pictured, from prison after granting him $10 000 bail.
Haruzivishe has been languishing in prison since April after Harare magistrate Judith Taruvinga found him guilty of inciting public violence and sentenced him to 20 months’ imprisonment.
The former Zimbabwe National Students Union secretary-general is accused of provoking members of the public to join him in illegal demonstrations that took place in February last year.
He also allegedly encouraged the stoning of police officers, who were on duty in Harare’s central business district.
Haruzivishe, through his lawyer Kossam Ncube had applied for bail pending appeal which Justice Chinamora had reserved since May 5.
In his appeal, Haruzivishe is challenging his conviction and sentence and is arguing that the magistrate had grossly erred in her decision to convict him of the charge.
He is also arguing that the magistrate erred in relying on the statements provided by the State witnesses as they were faulty and had continuously changed over the course of the trial.
Haruzivishe is also claiming that the State’s reasoning that he had incited the vendors to commit violence through whistling was faulty as whistling could have been interpreted by different people to have different meanings.