News / National
Mukoko turns heat on Mutasa and state security agents over abduction and torture
27 Mar 2017 at 14:13hrs | Views
HIGH Court Judge Justice Nyaradzo Munangati-Manongwa has heard a petition filed by former State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa and two other state security agents objecting to a lawsuit filed by prominent human rights campaigner Jestina Mukoko wherein they deny liability for their actions in torturing the director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP).
Lawyers from the Attorney General's Civil Division Office who are representing Mutasa, who is now one of the leaders of the opposition Zimbabwe People First party, Brigadier Asher Walter Tapfumaneyi and Chief Superintendent Peter Magwenzi have objected to have their clients cited in their personal capacity and want them to be cited only in their official capacity.
The lawyers argue that the trio should not have been cited as respondents in their personal capacity as they were acting in their official capacity.
However, Mukoko through her lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights has opposed the State's application and argues that no one is employed in his or her official capacity to commit heinous crimes such as torture and therefore Mutasa, Tapfumaneyi and Magwenzi could not have been acting in their official capacity when they violated Mukoko's fundamental rights.
Mukoko was abducted from her Norton home and held incommunicado for almost one month in December 2008. During the period that she was in incommunicado detention, Mukoko, the director of ZPP, which monitors and documents human rights violations, was repeatedly tortured by being assaulted, being forced to kneel on sharp gravel and subjected to psychological torture. She was also deprived access to lawyers and was only delivered to the police "blindfolded" on 22 December 2008 after vigorous campaigns by her family, and civil society groups such as ZLHR, where she was then slapped with criminal charges of plotting to unseat President Robert Mugabe's government.
In 2009, the human rights campaigner filed a $220 000 lawsuit against four cabinet ministers including Mutasa, who at the time of her abduction served as State Security, Lands and Land Reform Minister, Co-Ministers of Home Affairs Kembo Mohadi and Giles Mutsekwa, Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri, Chief Superintendent Magwenzi of the ZRP Serious Frauds Squad, Attorney General of Zimbabwe and Brigadier Tapfumaneyi for damages she suffered after she was abducted and held incommunicado and tortured for three weeks at various locations by state security agents.
This was after the Supreme Court in September 2009 granted a stay of prosecution on charges of banditry and terrorism which she faced after ruling that several of her fundamental rights were violated when she was abducted, tortured and held incommunicado.
Mutasa, who was fired from President Mugabe's Zanu PF party in 2015 and now serves as one of the leaders of Zimbabwe People First party defended the actions of the abductors and refused to divulge their identities, indicating that they had abducted Mukoko in fulfilment of their national duties.
Lawyers from the Attorney General's Civil Division Office who are representing Mutasa, who is now one of the leaders of the opposition Zimbabwe People First party, Brigadier Asher Walter Tapfumaneyi and Chief Superintendent Peter Magwenzi have objected to have their clients cited in their personal capacity and want them to be cited only in their official capacity.
The lawyers argue that the trio should not have been cited as respondents in their personal capacity as they were acting in their official capacity.
However, Mukoko through her lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights has opposed the State's application and argues that no one is employed in his or her official capacity to commit heinous crimes such as torture and therefore Mutasa, Tapfumaneyi and Magwenzi could not have been acting in their official capacity when they violated Mukoko's fundamental rights.
Mukoko was abducted from her Norton home and held incommunicado for almost one month in December 2008. During the period that she was in incommunicado detention, Mukoko, the director of ZPP, which monitors and documents human rights violations, was repeatedly tortured by being assaulted, being forced to kneel on sharp gravel and subjected to psychological torture. She was also deprived access to lawyers and was only delivered to the police "blindfolded" on 22 December 2008 after vigorous campaigns by her family, and civil society groups such as ZLHR, where she was then slapped with criminal charges of plotting to unseat President Robert Mugabe's government.
In 2009, the human rights campaigner filed a $220 000 lawsuit against four cabinet ministers including Mutasa, who at the time of her abduction served as State Security, Lands and Land Reform Minister, Co-Ministers of Home Affairs Kembo Mohadi and Giles Mutsekwa, Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri, Chief Superintendent Magwenzi of the ZRP Serious Frauds Squad, Attorney General of Zimbabwe and Brigadier Tapfumaneyi for damages she suffered after she was abducted and held incommunicado and tortured for three weeks at various locations by state security agents.
This was after the Supreme Court in September 2009 granted a stay of prosecution on charges of banditry and terrorism which she faced after ruling that several of her fundamental rights were violated when she was abducted, tortured and held incommunicado.
Mutasa, who was fired from President Mugabe's Zanu PF party in 2015 and now serves as one of the leaders of Zimbabwe People First party defended the actions of the abductors and refused to divulge their identities, indicating that they had abducted Mukoko in fulfilment of their national duties.
Source - Byo24News
