Farai Maguwu Denied Bail, to the Dismay of the International Community (Corrected)

Maguwu’s prosecutors accused him of jeopardizing Zimbabwe's ability to export rough diamonds, an issue that is currently grabbing the attention of the global diamond industry as well as getting greater press attention.

Maguwu met with the Kimberley Process Monitor Abbey Chikane in Herrera on May 25, and gave him a document that, according to Chikane’s fact finding mission report, “was acquired fraudulently from the files of Zimbabwe Republic Police.” Later in the report, Chikane described the document as “Top Secret.”

The Zimbabwe authorities are also charging Maguwu for handing the document to Chikane.

NGO activists in Tel Aviv this week for a KP meeting denied that Maguwu stole any documents and demanded his immediate release. KP Chair Boaz Hirsch, WDC President Eli Izhakoff and many others joined the call to release Maguwu.

Maguwu, who heads the non-governmental Centre for Research and Development Trust, is one of the people that collected much of the evidence and testimonies on the army and police crackdown at Marange that led to the deaths of at least 200 people.

According to Justice Chinembiri Bhunu, Maguwu’s release would interfere with an ongoing investigation.

(Correction: IDEX Online mischaracterized Maguwu as an investigator for Human Rights Watch (HRW). We regret that mistake.)