Lack of fuel is being used by prison officials as an excuse for not presenting scores of political prisoners for a court hearing. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai had demanded the release of all political detainees before he was sworn in as Prime Minister, but with just two days to go before the inaugural ceremony,Human rights lawyer Andrew Makoni said all 16 political detainees
failed to appear in court for their routine remand hearing on Monday
because the State said it did not have fuel to take them to court.
It had been hoped that all the persons accused of attempting to
overthrow the ZANU PF regime would have been released by now as a sign
of goodwill, but only two, Pascal Gonzo from the Zimbabwe Peace Project
(ZPP) and activist Tawanda Bvumo, have been released. They were
released on Friday because the State failed to produce any evidence
against them. They had been in prison since early December.
However the other 16 detainees, including ZPP director Jestina Mukoko
and MDC official Concillia Chinanzvavana, were on Monday remanded in
their absence.
Mukoko and eight others were remanded to 11 February, the day of Tsvangirai'
s swearing in, while the case for the second group of seven has been postponed to the 16th February.
This group includes photo-journalist Shadreck Andrew Manyere, MDC
Director of Security Chris Dhlamini and Morgan Tsvangirai's former aide
Gandi Mudzingwa.
Most of the prisoners were abducted from their homes in October last
year while others were kidnapped in December. The accused persons say
they were tortured into making submissions of plotting to destabilise
the Mugabe regime.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights have expressed extreme concern about the health conditions of some of the prisoners.
Makoni said some of them were taken to the Avenues Clinic at the
weekend and seen by doctors but were not treated because prison
officials took them back to jail before they could receive treatment.
The lawyers said: To us they are just playing games as they had the
fuel to take them to hospital and back to Chikurubi Maximum prison… The
doctors had actually recommended that they be detained there (at the
hospital) for observation because some of them exhibited signs of
serious illness. But they took them back to prison and now they are
saying they don't have fuel to take them to the Magistrates's court for
their routine remand. To us they are not serious at all.
He added that the release of the two activists on Friday clearly showed
that the State really had no evidence against the accused. This
actually signals the beginning of the collapse of the State's case in
respect of all the accused prisoners, including Jestina Mukoko; because
there is really no evidence that anything of the sort suggested by the
state occurred.
It remains to be seen if Tsvangirai will withhold his consent to be
appointed Prime Minister, if all political prisoners are not released
by Wednesday.
Meanwhile, it's reported the MDC leader will be sworn in at a private
ceremony on Wednesday, followed by an address at the Harare sports
stadium.
Tsvangirai is expected to outline a 100-day rebuilding and democratisation programme.
SWRadio Africa
Post published in: Politics