News / National
Tormented human rights lawyer heaps fresh misery on Mugabe's top lawyer
01 Nov 2015 at 09:56hrs | Views
Tormented human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa has heaped fresh misery on Zimbabwe's under-fire Prosecutor-General, Johannes Tomana, after she strongly reprimanded him for abusing his prosecutorial powers to persecute her at all costs.
Mtetwa, who was dragged to court by Tomana, who is seeking to set aside her acquittal on charges of defeating or obstructing the course of justice on Friday told High Court Judge Justice Garainesu Mawadza that Tomana's pursuit of her person is simply motivated by malice and is yet another proven example of the abuse of criminal prosecution powers by the Prosecutor-General.
Tomana's through his representative Edmore Makoto had asked Justice Mawadza to grant him leave to file an appeal against the discharge of Mtetwa and to remit the case to the Magistrates Court for a new trial.
But Mtetwa argued that Tomana's intention in launching a fresh assault on her is intended to tie her up in court ad infinitum even though it would be apparent that the PG will lose the case.
Mtetwa, the board chairperson of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, urged Justice Mawadze to dismiss Tomana's application which she argued had no prospects of success on appeal.
Justice Mawadze reserved ruling after hearing arguments from both Makoto and Mtetwa.
Mtetwa's rebuke of Tomana's which is certain to add more woes to the Zanu-PF apologist comes just days after the Constitutional Court on Wednesday left Tomana disgraced after imprisoning him for one month and threatened to deregister him from practising as a lawyer.
The full bench of the Constitutional Court on Wednesday convicted Tomana for defying lawful court orders and imprisoned him to serve 30 days in jail. In a unanimous decision delivered by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, the Constitutional Court ruled that it was apparent that Tomana had disobeyed court orders in cases where he had been ordered to issue certificates of private prosecution to a Harare man Francis Maramwidze and Telecel Zimbabwe.
During the years of the coalition government of former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe, the MDC-T party levelled several allegations of partisan behavior and conduct against Tomana, who ended up openly confessing that he sympathised with Mugabe's Zanu-PF party although he defended himself on not being compromised in the execution of his duties.
Mtetwa, who was dragged to court by Tomana, who is seeking to set aside her acquittal on charges of defeating or obstructing the course of justice on Friday told High Court Judge Justice Garainesu Mawadza that Tomana's pursuit of her person is simply motivated by malice and is yet another proven example of the abuse of criminal prosecution powers by the Prosecutor-General.
Tomana's through his representative Edmore Makoto had asked Justice Mawadza to grant him leave to file an appeal against the discharge of Mtetwa and to remit the case to the Magistrates Court for a new trial.
But Mtetwa argued that Tomana's intention in launching a fresh assault on her is intended to tie her up in court ad infinitum even though it would be apparent that the PG will lose the case.
Mtetwa, the board chairperson of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, urged Justice Mawadze to dismiss Tomana's application which she argued had no prospects of success on appeal.
Mtetwa's rebuke of Tomana's which is certain to add more woes to the Zanu-PF apologist comes just days after the Constitutional Court on Wednesday left Tomana disgraced after imprisoning him for one month and threatened to deregister him from practising as a lawyer.
The full bench of the Constitutional Court on Wednesday convicted Tomana for defying lawful court orders and imprisoned him to serve 30 days in jail. In a unanimous decision delivered by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, the Constitutional Court ruled that it was apparent that Tomana had disobeyed court orders in cases where he had been ordered to issue certificates of private prosecution to a Harare man Francis Maramwidze and Telecel Zimbabwe.
During the years of the coalition government of former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe, the MDC-T party levelled several allegations of partisan behavior and conduct against Tomana, who ended up openly confessing that he sympathised with Mugabe's Zanu-PF party although he defended himself on not being compromised in the execution of his duties.
Source - RadioVOP
