Five officials and members of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe who were beaten last week by militants of the ruling ZANU-PF party then arrested by police were booked Tuesday on charges of creating a criminal nuisance, then released again.
Those five trade unionists, with four others, were alleged to have tossed flyers at the Harare Province headquarters of the ruling party in central Harare, provoking their alleged seizure and severe beating by irate members of the ruling party.
Some of the teachers union members required hospitalization.
PTUZ Secretary General Raymond Majongwe, National Coordinator Oswald Madziva, and union member Bernard Shoko were among those booked on nuisance charges following an interrogation.
Majongwe, whose union has been on strike for a month, told reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that it was ironic that he and the others should face criminal charges when they suffered beatings at the hands of ZANU-PF militants.
More reports from VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe...