News / National
Chihuri warned and give 14 days to probe police torture and kidnapping
02 Mar 2017 at 05:42hrs | Views
The chairman of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC), Elasto Mugwadi has met Police Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri and given him 14 days to investigate and act against a Chiredzi-based senior cop who is facing serious allegations of torture and kidnap.
In a move that is bound to boost public confidence in the human rights body, Mugwadi met Chihuri and his deputies on February 17 and ordered that they investigate the case in which Detective Inspector Henry Dhowa is alleged to have kidnapped Kariborn Nyemba who is a labour activist in Chiredzi and tortured him for days before he managed to escape to Zambia.
Nyemba went missing for more than a year but speculation was rife that he had allegedly been kidnapped by Dhowa and a senior army officer also based in Chiredzi, Captain Casper Gono.
The matter was eventually reported to ZHRC which instituted investigations and then ordered that the Zimbabwe National Army and ZRP investigate Captain Gono and Dhowa respectively and take appropriate action against them. This order was given in October last year but there seemed to have been no movement on the ground.
Elasto Mugwadi then met Chihuri and ordered that he investigates and act on the matter within 14 days.
Mugwadi confirmed the developments when he was approached by The Mirror for a comment.
The Mirror is reliably informed that a team of three senior Police officers have descended on the town of Chiredzi and have to start the investigations. The officers are said to have spent almost 6 hours locked up in an interview with Dhowa and Gono at CID Chiredzi.
They later interviewed Simbarashe Nyemba the brother of the kidnapped man and others involved in the matter. Sources at the Police camp said the suspects were in low spirits, something that could mean that the senior officers meant business.
Simbarashe is a former Zimbabwe Sugar Milling Industry Workers Union (ZISMIWU) president.
"We held a meeting on February 7, 2017 with the Commissioner General of Police together with his deputies and senior assistant commissioners where we discussed the issue at length. They asked to investigate the matter further and we gave them a timeline of two weeks. As we are speaking they should be on the ground making their own investigations," said Mugwadi.
Dhowa has a poor human rights record and was once sent back from international peace keeping mission in Kosovo after human rights organizations throughout the World complained against his human rights record.
The mandate of the Commission is to monitor human rights issues
In a move that is bound to boost public confidence in the human rights body, Mugwadi met Chihuri and his deputies on February 17 and ordered that they investigate the case in which Detective Inspector Henry Dhowa is alleged to have kidnapped Kariborn Nyemba who is a labour activist in Chiredzi and tortured him for days before he managed to escape to Zambia.
Nyemba went missing for more than a year but speculation was rife that he had allegedly been kidnapped by Dhowa and a senior army officer also based in Chiredzi, Captain Casper Gono.
The matter was eventually reported to ZHRC which instituted investigations and then ordered that the Zimbabwe National Army and ZRP investigate Captain Gono and Dhowa respectively and take appropriate action against them. This order was given in October last year but there seemed to have been no movement on the ground.
Elasto Mugwadi then met Chihuri and ordered that he investigates and act on the matter within 14 days.
Mugwadi confirmed the developments when he was approached by The Mirror for a comment.
The Mirror is reliably informed that a team of three senior Police officers have descended on the town of Chiredzi and have to start the investigations. The officers are said to have spent almost 6 hours locked up in an interview with Dhowa and Gono at CID Chiredzi.
They later interviewed Simbarashe Nyemba the brother of the kidnapped man and others involved in the matter. Sources at the Police camp said the suspects were in low spirits, something that could mean that the senior officers meant business.
Simbarashe is a former Zimbabwe Sugar Milling Industry Workers Union (ZISMIWU) president.
"We held a meeting on February 7, 2017 with the Commissioner General of Police together with his deputies and senior assistant commissioners where we discussed the issue at length. They asked to investigate the matter further and we gave them a timeline of two weeks. As we are speaking they should be on the ground making their own investigations," said Mugwadi.
Dhowa has a poor human rights record and was once sent back from international peace keeping mission in Kosovo after human rights organizations throughout the World complained against his human rights record.
The mandate of the Commission is to monitor human rights issues
Source - Byo24News
