Charges against 35 members of the Election Resource Centre (ERC) and the Zimbabwe Election Support Network’s (ZESN) observation team have been dropped due to a lack of evidence.
The observers were arrested on August 24, 2023, in Harare during a police raid that confiscated their equipment. Police accused them of engaging in parallel voter tabulation, a claim the observers denied.
All 35 members spent two days in custody before being granted US$200 bail.
In a statement released today, ZESN confirmed the dismissal of the charges. “The charges against ZESN and ERC staff and volunteers arrested on August 23, 2023, for allegedly attempting to announce the results of the 2023 Harmonised General Elections have been withdrawn due to lack of evidence,” the statement reads.
During their initial court appearance last year, the observers complained of police brutality and torture. The court ordered investigations into these allegations, which the group’s lawyers claim have been unreasonably delayed.
The lawyers further argued that the state lacked a case against their clients and sought their immediate release from remand.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) included allegations in its 2023 elections report that ZESN and ERC collaborated with Team Pachedu, an online watchdog group, to collate and tabulate results for the purpose of prematurely announcing the elections.
However, ZESN has categorically denied these allegations, stating that they have “never” collaborated with Team Pachedu in any capacity.
