Freelance journalist Conrad Gweru was on Friday 28 September 2018 freed on bail after spending two days in detention when he was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct for allegedly taking photographs of Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) officers.
Gweru was arrested on Wednesday 26 September 2018 by ZRP officers and charged with disorderly conduct as defined in section 41 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23.
According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), prosecutors claimed that Gweru unlawfully and intentionally engaged in a disorderly conduct by taking pictures and shouted at a ZRP officer identified as Victor Mawodzwa while protesting against the misconduct exhibited by ZRP officers at an accident scene involving a commuter omnibus, with the intention of provoking a breach of peace.
Harare Magistrate Edwin Marecha, who granted Gweru $30 bail and remanded him out of custody to 25 October 2018, ordered him to continue residing at his given residential address and not to interfere with witnesses.
On the day of his arrest, it is reported that Gweru was bundled into a police truck and was heavily assaulted by police officers.
His defence counsel, Gift Mtisi from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights has made a request for the State to investigate the torture of Gweru by the rowdy police officers .
Initially, the police indicated that they wanted to charge Gweru with inciting public violence but later altered the charges