CHAPTER 3 CHILDREN IN CELLS: ARRESTS AND PRE-TRIAL DETENTION “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” Nelson Mandela, Former President of South Africa Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Although the Chief Justice in a statement said that 12 juveniles were released into the custody of either their parents/guardians or social welfare officers on their appearance in court, Justice for Children (JC) recorded a total of 51 children who were arraigned in the Magistrates Courts in Harare, Chitungwiza and Bulawayo. Several atrocities were committed against children at the point of arrest, and the police emerged to be the primary violators of the rights of children. Once arrested, no proper screening processes were followed by the members of the ZRP. Children were assaulted and beaten by soldiers in residential areas, and by police at the point of arrest. Children were detained at police stations in Harare, Chitungwiza and Bulawayo in unlawful and avoidable pre-trial detentions. 3.1 Arrest of Children in January 2019 Following the #ZimShutDown protests, massive arrests followed. A number of children were arrested for allegedly participating in looting, acts of arson and erecting barricades, among other activities. Although arrests for public violence were made across the country, known cases of children who were arrested were only recorded in Harare, Chitungwiza, Macheke and Bulawayo. Arrests primarily took the form of dragnet arrests; groups were arrested for being caught in assembly, and people on the streets were arrested, and more disturbingly, people in areas such as Epworth and Chitungwiza were dragged from their houses at night by the police and armed soldiers, and were arrested. The latter was in respect of males. These arrests were indiscriminate, in the sense that children were arrested in the process. Arrests started on the first day of the protests, and continued well into the end of January. The number of children arrested was gradually increasing over that period. All who were arrested were charged with committing public violence as defined in section 36 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23]. Bulawayo was the exception, with the police preferring the additional or alternative charges of looting and theft. The then Zimbabwean Republic Police (ZRP) Chief Spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba on 24 January 2019 confirmed that the police had arrested children involved in the 16 ‘Hear them Cry ’ – An Analysis of State Violence Against Children During the January 2019 Protests