News / National
Human rights lawyers blame police for partisanship
22 Feb 2011 at 18:13hrs | Views
Zimbabwe Human rights lawyers on Tuesday joined Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC-T in condemning what they see as the partisan manner in which the police are handling cases of political violence in Harare and other parts of the country.
They said failure by the police to combat violence in an impartial manner was causing the escalation of politically-motivated violence.
On Monday MDC-T expressed outrage at the upsurge in the arrests and harassment of its officials, activists and supporters on charges of political violence which the party said were "trumped-up".
On Tuesday, human rights lawyers and activists also expressed concern over the alleged partisan arrests of MDC-T activists saying such arrests were "one sided".
The MDC-T said the police were behaving in a partial manner, arresting their party members and turning a blind eye to the violence allegedly perpetrated by Zanu PF supporters.
The police however said both the MDC-T and Zanu PF were culpable for the violence that has rocked Harare and other parts of the country over the past few weeks.
Trust Maanda, a human rights lawyer, said the arrests were "one-sided" and portrayed the image of violence as being orchestrated only by supporters of one political party.
"The arrests seem to be one-sided and portraying an image, which could be true, which could be false, that the only perpetrators of political violence belong to a certain political party which is very unusual," Maanda said on Tuesday.
He said the police were arresting "for persecution rather than for prosecution," he said.
"From the cases I have personally handled I perceive a trend by the police of merely arresting for persecution rather than for prosecution," he said.
"It's a worrying trend coming from the police who should, in a democratic state, be even-handed in the application and enforcement of the law."
Maanda said the invocation of Section 121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act was "another weapon in the arsenal of the State in furthering the persecution". It enables the continued detention of individuals.
Irene Petras, executive director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), said she was worried about the partial behaviour of the police when handling cases of political violence.
She said the partisan behaviour was a trend observed over the years where supporters of one political party and human rights defenders were arrested and charged but the cases were never won.
"It is a proven trend over a long period of time," Petras said.
"We are not surprised by what we are seeing now. It has always been the case. The only thing that will bring this to an end is for the police to do their job properly. If they arrest perpetrators then we will not have these problems."
She said if the police continued carrying out their duties in a partial manner, it would promote a culture of impunity which would lead to continued violence.
Earlier on, the ZLHR said:
"The increase in the extent and frequency of harassment, arrests and persecution of bona-fide political and human rights activists should cease forthwith.
"The Supreme Court should further urgently set down for consideration the constitutional challenges pertaining to Section 121, as the continued delay is having a negative impact on the fundamental rights and freedoms of numerous legitimate political activists and human rights defenders."
The outrage follows the arrest and incarceration of Douglas Mwonzora, Nyanga North MP and 22 MDC activists on charges of political violence.
Several other MDC-T activists have since the beginning of the year been arrested and charged with perpetrating political violence.
Surprisingly, no one from Zanu PF has been arrested and charged with violence despite complaints from the MDC-T and human rights activists.
Mwonzora and the 22 human rights activists were granted $50 bail each by a Nyanga magistrate but were remanded in custody after the State invoked Section 121 subsection (3) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act.
The ZLHR said the "persecution" of Mwonzora and the villagers was testimony that, despite the guarantees for free political activity enshrined in the Global Political Agreement, there remained elements within the transitional coalition government who were "dead set against the dawn of democracy in Zimbabwe".
The Act grants the State permission to keep a person in jail for seven days even if bail has been granted.
Another MP, Roger Tazviona, who represents Zhombe, and other MDC-T supporters were in remand prison under the same Section.
They said failure by the police to combat violence in an impartial manner was causing the escalation of politically-motivated violence.
On Monday MDC-T expressed outrage at the upsurge in the arrests and harassment of its officials, activists and supporters on charges of political violence which the party said were "trumped-up".
On Tuesday, human rights lawyers and activists also expressed concern over the alleged partisan arrests of MDC-T activists saying such arrests were "one sided".
The MDC-T said the police were behaving in a partial manner, arresting their party members and turning a blind eye to the violence allegedly perpetrated by Zanu PF supporters.
The police however said both the MDC-T and Zanu PF were culpable for the violence that has rocked Harare and other parts of the country over the past few weeks.
Trust Maanda, a human rights lawyer, said the arrests were "one-sided" and portrayed the image of violence as being orchestrated only by supporters of one political party.
"The arrests seem to be one-sided and portraying an image, which could be true, which could be false, that the only perpetrators of political violence belong to a certain political party which is very unusual," Maanda said on Tuesday.
He said the police were arresting "for persecution rather than for prosecution," he said.
"From the cases I have personally handled I perceive a trend by the police of merely arresting for persecution rather than for prosecution," he said.
"It's a worrying trend coming from the police who should, in a democratic state, be even-handed in the application and enforcement of the law."
Maanda said the invocation of Section 121 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act was "another weapon in the arsenal of the State in furthering the persecution". It enables the continued detention of individuals.
Irene Petras, executive director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), said she was worried about the partial behaviour of the police when handling cases of political violence.
"It is a proven trend over a long period of time," Petras said.
"We are not surprised by what we are seeing now. It has always been the case. The only thing that will bring this to an end is for the police to do their job properly. If they arrest perpetrators then we will not have these problems."
She said if the police continued carrying out their duties in a partial manner, it would promote a culture of impunity which would lead to continued violence.
Earlier on, the ZLHR said:
"The increase in the extent and frequency of harassment, arrests and persecution of bona-fide political and human rights activists should cease forthwith.
"The Supreme Court should further urgently set down for consideration the constitutional challenges pertaining to Section 121, as the continued delay is having a negative impact on the fundamental rights and freedoms of numerous legitimate political activists and human rights defenders."
The outrage follows the arrest and incarceration of Douglas Mwonzora, Nyanga North MP and 22 MDC activists on charges of political violence.
Several other MDC-T activists have since the beginning of the year been arrested and charged with perpetrating political violence.
Surprisingly, no one from Zanu PF has been arrested and charged with violence despite complaints from the MDC-T and human rights activists.
Mwonzora and the 22 human rights activists were granted $50 bail each by a Nyanga magistrate but were remanded in custody after the State invoked Section 121 subsection (3) of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act.
The ZLHR said the "persecution" of Mwonzora and the villagers was testimony that, despite the guarantees for free political activity enshrined in the Global Political Agreement, there remained elements within the transitional coalition government who were "dead set against the dawn of democracy in Zimbabwe".
The Act grants the State permission to keep a person in jail for seven days even if bail has been granted.
Another MP, Roger Tazviona, who represents Zhombe, and other MDC-T supporters were in remand prison under the same Section.
Source - Byo24NEWS
