Communiqué ZIMBABWE National Overview: Zambia | 2010 Date: January 25, 2010 Person/ institution: Violation/ issue: Other The newly elected Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) executive on 29 December 2009 opted to stand down and allow fresh elections to be held on 27 February 2010. This comes in the wake of a High Court application filed by four freelance journalists on 17 December 2009 seeking the nullification of the election of the new ZUJ executive at How Mine outside Zimbabwe’s second city of Bulawayo. March 2, 2010: The re-run elections for a new executive of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) held in Bulawayo on 27 February 2010 have yet again sparked controversy with some members of the union describing them as null and void. Alert Date: January 18, 2010 Person/ institution: Stanley Kwenda Violation/ issue: Threatened Senior freelance journalist Stanley Kwenda was reported to have fled the country after he was allegedly phoned and threatened with death by a senior police officer.Kwenda fled after he was phoned on his cellphone on 15 January 2010 by the alleged senior police officer over a story reportedly published in The Zimbabwean newspaper. Alert Date: January 18, 2010 Person/ institution: Andrison Manyere Violation/ issue: Detained 118 2010 Freelance photojournalist Andrison Manyere was on 18 January 2010 arrested in Harare while covering a march by members of the Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise pressure groups. Alert Date: January 25, 2010 Person/ institution: Lovemore Moyo, Roger Stringer Violation/ issue: Other Roger Stringer, a Harare publishing consultant, challenged the Speaker of Parliament Lovemore Moyo to explain the verification process that led to the short-listing of nominees subject to final appointment to serve on the statutory Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC). Alert Date: January 17, 2010 Peron / institution: Barnabas Madzimure, Fortune Mutandiro Violation/ issue: Detained, Legislation Barnabas Madzimure and Fortune Mutandiro directors of a company that distributes the privately owned The Zimbabwean newspaper were initially arrested on 17 January 2010 in Harare’s high density suburb of Mbare while distributing copies of the Zimbabwean on Sunday, a weekly sister publication of The Zimbabwean. They were released without charges February 12, 2010 Barnabas Madzimure and Fortune Mutandiro were on 11 February 2010 charged under the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act which deals with publishing falsehoods prejudicial to the State. The charges arose from a story published 2010 119