Zimbabwean dissident Tapfumanei Masaya found dead: Citizens' Coalition for Change party

3rd incident denounced in weeks by largest opposition party, which accuses ruling Zanu-PF party of conducting campaign of intimidating its supporters

By Nadia Chahed

TUNIS (AA) - Zimbabwean opposition activist Tapfumanei Masaya was found dead after being kidnapped while campaigning before December by-elections, his political party, Citizens' Coalition for Change (CCC), announced Tuesday.

It is the third incident denounced in weeks by the country's largest opposition party, which accused the ruling Zanu-PF party of carrying out a campaign of intimidation of its supporters, according to the Voice of America news website.

The CCC indicated Monday that the body of Masaya, kidnapped in broad daylight by armed men last Saturday in Harare, had been found in the suburbs of the capital, said the website.

Contested elections in August resulted in the re-election of President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Parliament has since declared vacant the seats of 15 elected deputies of the CCC, which denounced a "fraudulent" decision, and by-elections are planned for December to fill the seats, said VOA.

Masaya was campaigning as a CCC candidate in the Mabvuku, a suburb of Harare, when he was forced into a vehicle, according to his party.

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