Zimbabwe prize-winning novelist gets suspended sentence, fine over protest

Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga appears at Magistrates Court on charges of inciting public violence in Harare, Zimbabwe, September 29, 2022. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo

HARARE (Reuters) - Prize-winning Zimbabwean novelist and filmmaker Tsitsi Dangarembga was found guilty of staging an anti-government protest and received a six-month suspended jail sentence and a fine, a court ruled on Thursday.

Dangarembga and her co-accused Julie Barnes, who was also found guilty, had been charged with participating in a public gathering with intent to incite public violence while breaking COVID-19 protocols, after they staged a protest in July 2020.