Trials of abductees begin next week

The individuals were abducted between the months of October and December and spent more than five months in jail. They had been kept in secret locations before legal pressure forced them to be brought to court, where they were accused of plotting to destabilise the former ZANU PF led government.

At the time it was reported that at least 30 MDC and civil society activists, including a two year old boy, had been abducted. But only 17 accused persons are named in the trials set to begin on 8th June. The State had held some abductees as state witnesses while the MDC said several other party activists are still missing.

The first group appearing on 8th June is known as the First recruiters trial and this involves the States case against Concillia Chinanzvavana, Fidelis Chiramba, Violet Mupfuranhewe and Collen Mutemagau. They were among the group kidnapped at the end of October last year and are accused of recruiting people to incapacitate the regime.

The trial of a second group, known as the bombers trial, involves two MDC officials recently released on bail, Chris Dhlamini & Gandhi Mudzingwa, plus photojournalist Shadreck Andrison Manyere and four of their co-accused, Chinoto Zulu, Zacharia Nkomo, Regis Mujeyi and Mapfumo Garutsa. Their trial starts on June 29th.

The last group of alleged recruiters will stand trial on 20th July: This is the case involving civic leader Jestina Mukoko, Emmanuel Chinanzvavana, Pieta Kaseke, Audrey Zimbudzwana and Brodrick Takawira
Lawyer Alec Muchadehama said last week that it was disturbing to see that his clients, who are the victims, are going to be in the dock, while the perpetrators who kidnapped and tortured his clients have not been brought to book. He said some of these perpetrators of violence will be used as State witnesses.

The abductees will also be seeking redress of their own in the Supreme Court, in-between their trials. The legal monitoring group Veritas said that on June 25th the accused persons will complain that their constitutional rights were infringed by their abduction, lengthy unlawful detention, treatment during detention (including torture) and the States failure to take appropriate action against those responsible while at the same time vigorously pursuing criminal charges against the abductees.

Veritas added: The court will be asked to stop the prosecution of the abductees until the case against their kidnappers has been fully investigated and prosecutions mounted against those responsible. As a constitutional case, this will be heard by five judges. The complainants legal team will be led by Advocate Jeremy Gauntlett SC of the South African bar. Deputy Attorney-General Prince Machaya will head the States team.

Also to stand trial this month are journalists from the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper, Vincent Kahiya and Constantine Chimakure. The senior editors face charges of undermining public confidence in law enforcement agents. They are accused of publishing a story naming police officers and state agents implicated in the abductions of the political abductees. This is in spite of the fact that their story was based on contents of the official trial documents. Their case will be heard on June 16th.

Meanwhile several cases involving human rights defenders were thrown out by the courts in recent days. Prominent human rights lawyer Alec Muchadehama was on Monday removed from remand by Harare magistrate Catherine Chimanda. The lawyer was arrested on May 15th on allegations of attempting to defeat or obstruct the administration of justice for allegedly conniving with a clerk of court, to facilitate the release of three of his clients on bail after the State had been given leave to appeal to the Supreme Court against the granting of bail. Magistrate Catherine Chimanda ruled that on the facts placed before the court by the State there was no reasonable suspicion that Mr Muchadehama had committed any crime.

High Court judge Justice Chinembiri Bhunus clerk Constance Gambara, who processed the release of Muchadehamas clients release, was also arrested in connection with the same case and is being accused of abusing a public office. She is currently out on bail and was remanded to 12th June.

Other recent political trials that ended in acquittals included that of;
Minister Eric Matinenga who was facing a charge of inciting public violence;
Deputy Minister Tichaona Mudzingwa who had been accused of attempting to cause disaffection among army personnel after the March 2008 elections;
MDC-T MP Pearson Mungofa who was also acquitted of attempting to cause disaffection among army personnel after the March elections.
11 MDC-T members from Buhera who were facing charges of public violence allegedly committed during the funeral of Susan Tsvangirai.
Rights lawyers, Roselyn Hanzi and Tawanda Zhuwarara, plus eight members of the group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA). They were arrested in February for allegedly participating in an illegal gathering that was bent on breaching the peace, but the magistrate threw out their saying they committed no offence.

These arrests and acquittals of opponents are nothing new in Zimbabwe where scores of MDC activists, in particular, have been arrested only to be released after suffering prolonged detention in filthy cells. Human rights lawyers have said peoples lives are disrupted as a result of these unlawful detentions which are used as tools of persecution rather than prosecution. The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights believes that the acquittals proves that the police continue to effect arbitrary arrests without first carrying out investigations and establishing a reasonable suspicion that crime has been committed.

This ongoing harassment of civic society, activists and the opposition is a well used tactic by the regime, which is still firmly entrenched despite the unity government. The time, energy and money required to take these cases through the legal system, ensures that anyone viewed as opposition, is severely weakened and blocked from being as effective as they could be.