By Own Correspondent| Secretary general of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) Robson Chere has been found guilty of an assault charge by a Goromonzi court.

Chere was fined $100 or he faces 30 days behind bars.

His Lawyer Doug Coltart however dismissed the ruling arguing that the ruling was a travesty of justice.

Said Coltart:

“I disagree with the magistrate. We will certainly appeal. This is a travesty of justice, I disagree with both the sentence and the conviction. Its a clear case of self defence because the accused was attacked by a group of armed men with guns and guard dogs. In our law, the defence of self defence is an absolute defence, meaning that the verdict was wrong.”

ARTUZ President Obert Masaraure who attended the court in solidarity with Chere said:

“As a union, we view both the conviction and the sentence as grossly unfair. The state intends to destroy our union using the judiciary. The union will not be deterred by the state’s machinations, we will be appealing against both the conviction and sentence.”

Chere’s wife said she sat through her husband’s ordeal, feeling his pain.

She added that today was the culmination of her suffering as her husband reached his judgement day.

She said:

“I was worried but I knew it was a false accusation as the state tried to cook a story for my husband. I knew he was innocent. I feared for our three children though as I lied to them that their father had traveled to Tanzania. I didn’ t want them to know that he was in jail. It was during his first case of intimidation when he was incarcerated at Goromomzi prison..he was later acquitted and this time around he has been convicted.”

After paying the fine Chere said:

“The ruling did not take into consideration the circumstances of the imminent threats and danger I was facing at the time the alleged crime was committed.”

ARTUZ INFORMATION DEPARTMENT.