JUSTICE IN ZIMBABWE 33 ____________________________________________________________________ so because they were awaiting instructions from their superiors and the AttorneyGeneral’s office. Nyamukondiwa said defiantly: “As far as I’m concerned, even if my superiors were going to take 20 years to make the decision to release the suspects, I was going to keep them for that period regardless of the court orders.” However on 27 June 2002 the Attorney-General’s office applied to the magistrates court in Bulawayo for the two accused to be indicted for trial in the High Court on 11 November 2002. The application was granted by a magistrate while the prison officials were appearing before the High Court on charges of contempt of court. The effect of indicting persons for trial is that any previous grant of bail falls away, and they are kept in custody until their trial unless a fresh application for bail is made and granted. Inspector Nyamukondiwa was later convicted of contempt of court for defying the court order to release Sibanda and Mpofu. The sentence imposed was $10 000 or 60 days in prison, the whole of which was conditionally suspended for five years on condition that he did not commit a similar offence. Some other prison officers were given sentences of a wholly suspended fine.54 The court found that they had purged their contempt by releasing the prisoners. These sentences were extremely light, given the blatant nature of the contempt and their point-blank refusal to obey the court order, which led to the continued detention of persons whom the courts had ruled should be released. Contempt of court by police: Capital Radio A serious instance of contempt of court on the part of a senior policeman occurred in October 2000. A company called Capital Radio (Pvt) Ltd challenged the constitutionality of sections of the Broadcasting Act which gave a broadcasting monopoly to the governmentcontrolled ZBC. The Supreme Court upheld the company’s challenge, thereby creating a gap in the law which permitted organisations other than the ZBC to operate