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WikiLeaks probe should target Zanu PF: Lawyers

27/12/2010 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
 
Legally problematic ... Beatrice Mtetwa
 
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HUMAN Rights Lawyers have insisted that the proposed WikiLeaks Commission should be impartial also target Zanu PF officials named in the secret US documents made public by the whistle-blower website.

"If there is a commission to look into WikiLeaks, it will have to investigate everything WikiLeaks has discussed, including officials from Zanu-PF. It cannot be selective," human rights lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa told a British newspaper.

Attorney General, Johannes Tomana, announced last week that a commission would be appointed to investigate the alleged "treasonous collusion" between former opposition leaders and Western governments.

"With immediate effect, I am going to instruct a team of practising lawyers to look into the issues that arise from the WikiLeaks.

“The (leaks) appear to show a treasonous collusion between local Zimbabweans and the aggressive international world, particularly the United States," Tomana told the state-owned Herald newspaper.

The development followed calls by Zanu PF officials for Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to quit public office and face prosecution for possible treason in the wake of allegations he privately urged the West to maintain sanctions against the country.

Communications from the US embassy in Harare released by WikiLeaks suggested Tsvangirai had privately urged the US and the European Union to keep sanctions in place while publicly calling for their removal.

Another senior MDC official and cabinet minister, Elton Mangoma, was also alleged to have asked the West to contribute to a trust fund that would be used to buy-off senior security service chiefs who are seen as fiercely local to President Robert Mugabe.

But Mtetwa warned that a successful prosection of Tsvangirai for treason would be legally problematic.

"From a legal perspective it would be folly. When it comes to witnesses, are they going to call back the former US ambassadors? The cables are based on opinion, not fact. There are a host of legal problems.

 “But I'm not going to say it's unlikely because the attorney general has been known to chase rainbows against us. He was put in the position for that particular reason," she said.

Tomana was himself slapped with US sanctions this month for allegedly undermining democracy and the rule of law in the country by “presiding over the selective prosecution of President Mugabe’s political opponents”.



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