This week's issues
| Call for Parliament to investigate conduct of the AG and the police |
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| Written by Stanley Chikomba |
| Tuesday, 10 November 2009 12:26 |
 Zimbabwean lawyers want parliament to investigate the police and the Attorney General's office for their disregard of the law. Lawyers grouped under the banner of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZHLR) want parliament to launch a probe into the conduct both state organisations."ZLHR calls for the urgent establishment of an independent Parliamentary committee inquiry into the continuing unlawful actions of the ZRP," said Irene Pretras, the ZLHR Executive Director. As part of the probe they specifically want parliament to look into the conduct of senior police officers in Victoria Falls and Hwange, the Commissioner-General of Police, Co-Ministers of Home Affairs. These are accused of being "unable or unwilling to bring this lawlessness to an immediate end." Several civic society leaders, including Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) President Lovemore Matombo, who was arrested in Victoria Falls on Sunday, have been arrested in the region over the past two weeks. Petras added that parliamentary investigation should also be extended to the AG's office which ahs of late been at the forefront of harassing lawyers representing human rights and political activists. The most recent case is that of Harare human rights and media lawyer Mordekai Mahlangu who was arrested last week. His arrest came after he had written a letter to the AG Johannes Tomana. In the letter he sought to advise that his client, Peter Hitschmann, identified by the state as the key witness in Roy Bennett's trial, will not be able to take the stand because evidence that he gave was provided under duress. "This inquiry should also include an investigation into the actions of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Attorney General who, as the legal representatives of the ZRP, have failed or refused to execute their constitutional and professional duty," said Petras. "They have failed to advise the police of their continued misinterpretation and misapplication of the law, and must therefore be perceived ...to be complicit in this continued harassment." The lawyers further condemned the unlawful arrest and detention in Victoria Falls of the ZCTU president and four other union officials. In the past few weeks, the ZRP in Victoria Falls have unlawfully arrested, detained and charged various NGO leaders and representatives charging them under the Public Order and Secret Act (POSA). The Chairperson and the Chief Executive Officer of the National Organisation of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO) and two employees of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) have been the most recent victims of the unlawful actions of the police and a justice delivery system which is failing to protect their fundamental rights and freedoms. |
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