Chiredzi based journo Patrick Chitongo who was slapped with a one year jail term, was yesterday released on bail.
Chitongo who the State claims published a newspaper without registration, was released on bail pending appeal following intervention of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.

They announced Thursday afternoon: “We are glad to advise that detained freelance journalist Patrick Chitongo has been freed on $200 bail after his lawyer Martin Mureri of Matutu Mureri Legal Practitioners, a member of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights applied for bail pending appeal of both conviction and sentence.”
Meanwhile earlier on Chitongo’s co-accused were acquitted after the court found that they were college students who did not have a say in the paper’s publication.
Chitongo denies the charges, saying the publications were dummies he intended to hand in to the media commission for registration.
Under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, journalists have to register annually with a government-appointed commission and publishers need to have a registration certificate.
More to follow…