ZANU PF appeals against release of Mukoko
ZANU PF has appealed against a court ruling ordering police to transfer to hospital a top rights activist and several others accused of plotting against the government, The Herald said Saturday.
“We have been advised by the attorney-general’s office that they have noted an appeal against the high court order issued on Wednesday,” The Herald quoted national police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena as saying.
“We are still holding them in custody until the appeal is heard,” he said.
But one of the defence lawyers, Alec Muchadehama, said they have not been formally notified of the appeal.
“It is just a way of trying to frustrate the release of our clients. The state intends to appeal but no appeal has been noted as far as we know,” he told AFP news Agency.
High court judge Yunus Omerjee on Wednesday ordered police to release to hospital Jestina Mukoko and several opposition activists accused of recruiting or goading people to undergo military training to fight President Robert Mugabe’s government.
The detainees’ lawyer has said they may have been tortured in custody.
Mukoko, director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project — a rights group which has been compiling cases of election violence — was seized from her home on December 3 by armed men who identified themselves as police.
Two members of her staff were taken away from their office days later. They are being accused together with 28 members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party of recruiting anti-government plotters.
The detainees, including a two-year-old boy, were taken away from their homes and some from their workplaces by armed people who identified themselves as police.
They are expected back in court on Monday.
Mukoko’s location was unknown for several weeks and a high court order for her release went unheeded, sparking protests from international rights bodies. Paris-based media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders on Friday urged their immediate release.
“The accusations brought against Mukoko are absurd and baseless. We call on the Zimbabwean authorities to free her and withdraw all the charges at once.
“The prosecution of these opposition activists has all the hallmarks of a government conspiracy to sabotage the power-sharing agreement,” it said.
Zimbabwe’s political crisis has added to the woes of the country suffering from world’s highest inflation rate, last estimated at 231 million percent in July and a devastating cholera outbreak that has claimed about 1,200 lives.
The MDC on Saturday said the detentions would further hamper stalled talks with the ruling party on forming a unity government after contested elections earlier this year.
“This persecution on trumped-up charges is simply going to jeopardise the process and spirit of a negotiated settlement which is already destabilised,” MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said Saturday.
“Clearly the attitude …is going to puncture the dialogue …They are trying to create a movie story along the lines of Hollywood but unfortunately they are playing with people’s lives,” he added.
-AFP
Posted by Wellington Chadehumbe
on December 27, 2008. Filed under Local News,Politics,Tondi's Blog on all things Zimbabwean.
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