Investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono, who is facing charges of obstructing or defeating the course of justice, was on Thursday denied by Harare magistrate Marehwanazvo Gofa.
Gofa ruled that Chin’ono has the ability to post messages on social media platforms and commit other offences as he allegedly did so after he was ordered by the court in a previous case to avoid making any public messages using Twitter.
He is currently facing charges of contempt of court for posting a message on Twitter that allegedly denigrated the dignity of Zimbabwe’s chief justice, Luke Malaba. Chin’ono faces a fine or up to one year in prison.
He was locked up for six weeks following accusations that he supported an anti-corruption protest in July this year.
Before his arrest, the journalist exposed corruption in the Ministry of Health in which a company identified as Drax International engaged in a $60 million deal with the government without following proper procurement procedures for purchasing COVID-19 materials.
The then Health Minister Obadiah Moyo was sacked by President Mnangagwa following the publication of the shady deal.
Chin'ono is expected to appear in court on November 26th.
Thomas Chiripasi and Mlondolozi Ndlovu contributed to this article