In a front-page story in The Herald this week, as well as in repeated television interviews, the Deputy Attorney-General (Criminal Division), Johannes Tomana, said: We have made it a point that those arrested are locked up right to trial. Bail is opposed as a matter of policy.
ZLHR says the decision shows that the Attorney-General’s office is confusing its powers with that of the final arbiter, the judiciary.
In terms of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, all accused persons have a fundamental right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court of law, said a statement from ZLHR. Bail is an entitlement that is provided to accused persons to ensure that, from the time of their arrest to the finalization of their trial, their right to liberty is not unreasonably and unnecessarily violated.
When bail is applied for, the State cannot simply oppose it without providing the court with substantive and credible reasons, supported by evidence. It would have to convince the court that there was a material likelihood that the accused might flee from justice if released on bail, interfere with witnesses, or commit further offences.
With the reality that the wheels of criminal justice in Zimbabwe’s courts turn slowly, such a process would mean that accused persons, constitutionally presumed innocent, would have to spend long periods of time in remand prison before even being heard, said the lawyers’ body.
This policy change, the statement warned, came at a time when people were preparing to cast their vote in the presidential election run-off. Anyone arrested now and denied bail could be kept in remand prisons for weeks or months, and so be unable to vote or campaign.
ZLHR was also saddened by the Deputy Attornbey-General’s insensitivity to the pitiful state of the country’s prisons where prisoners, including the innocent and still to be proven guilty, were living in inhuman and degrading conditions.
Zimbabwe’s prisons are indeed already battling to provide prisoners with adequate clothing, food and health care, said the ZLHR.
Post published in: News