A Zimbabwean pastor has been arrested and charged after protesting against president Robert Mugabe.
Patrick Mugadza, 45, travelled from his village of Kariba to the town of Victoria Falls to demonstrate against the Zanu PF leadership.
He walked around the town peacefully carrying a sign which read: "Mr President the people are suffering, Proverbs 21:13"
The Bible verse Mugadza refers to says; "Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor, will also cry out and not be answered."
However the pastor of Remnant Church was arrested last Friday and appeared before a magistrate yesterday charged with criminal nuisance. It is alleged Mugadza disturbed and blocked people and therefore disturbed the peace.
His lawyer, Thulani Nkala, argued his client was carrying out his constitutional right.
"It's the accused's submission that there was no offence as he was merely exercising his constitutional right which is enshrined in the constitution," said Nkala as he applied for refusal of remand.
"Everyone has the right to demonstrate and present a petition. He was merely carrying a placard with no violence and didn't even force members of the public to join him.
"It is on this basis that we apply that the accused should not be placed on remand as it is folly to allege that demonstrations are a nuisance because they are provided for in the constitution. My client wouldn't have come all the way from Kariba to be a nuisance."
However the magistrate dismissed the application and Mugadza was released on $500 bail with reporting conditions once a week at his local police station.
He will return to court on 5 January 2016.
Mugadza is one of more than 100 people to have been arrested for criticising Mugabe in the past decade.
