HARARE Government lawyers last week conceded that state security agents violated the law when they abducted last year top human rights campaigner Jestina Mukoko who is accused of recruiting people to topple President Robert Mugabe.Mukoko, a former state broadcaster turned human rights campaigner, was among a group of rights defenders and activists from then opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirais MDC party abducted by state security agents last year and allegedly tortured for weeks in a bid to force them to admit plotting to overthrow Mugabe.
She has appealed to the Supreme Court, which hears constitutional cases, for permanent stay of prosecution on the charge of plotting to topple Mugabe permanently stayed because her constitutional rights were violated when she was abducted last December.
A full five-member bench of the Supreme Court postponed a ruling on Mukokos application but not before the state was forced to make a concession that could prove fatal to its attempt to maintain charges against Mukoko and her co-accused.
Asked by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku whether Mukokos detention from December 3 to 22 was unlawful prosecutor Fatima Maxwell replied, “yes, my Lord.”
Maxwell also conceded that state agents might have subjected Mukoko to inhumane and degrading treatment during her detention.
Mukokos lawyer, Jeremy Gauntlet, told the court of how his client was seized form her home by armed man while wearing only a night dress, never given a chance to collect her medicines and taken way to an unknown destination where she was to remain in captivity for several weeks in total violation of her rights and the law.
The state should not be allowed to proceed to put Mukoko on trial because its hands were dirty from the way its agents had treated the rights activist, Gauntlet told the court.
“This is a woman (who was) at home with a child and is abducted, but when one considers the circumstances she was only wearing a night dress and is not allowed to take her medicine,” said Gauntlet.
He added: “She was only wearing her night dress without pants on. She was threatened with death, the state is here with dirty hands which warrants a permanent stay of prosecution. What does the court do when people are brought to court by state agents who have dirty hands? This is the problem the new US administration is now facing as a result of detainees at Guantanamo bay in Cuba.”
If the Supreme Court grants Mukokos application for permanent stay of prosecution, this would pave way for other rights defenders and MDC activists to seek the same relief from the countrys highest court.
But refusal by the court to grant the application means Mukoko goes on trial in a case in which if convicted she faces the death penalty, a development that could scuttle the fragile unity government between Mugabe and Tsvangirai.
Western governments and international rights groups have been calling for Zimbabwes inclusive government to carry out comprehensive political, economic and justice reforms without delay to uphold human rights and the rule of law before they provide financial support and lift sanctions on Mugabe and his inner circle.
Post published in: Politics