Zimbabwe lawyers to stage protest march

Zimbabwe lawyers to stage protest march

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By Staff Reporter

ZIMBABWEAN lawyers will march on Tuesday in as demonstration to protest the alleged harassment of legal practitioners by police after two lawyers were arrested by police on Friday.

The International Bar Association on Monday led international calls for the lawyers' release.

"The arrest and detention of (Andrew) Makoni and (Alec) Muchadehama is another example of the precarious situation in which human rights lawyers work in Zimbabwe," said Mark Ellis, Executive Director of the International Bar Association.

"We are witnessing an extremely worrying turn in the rule of law situation in Zimbabwe. President Mugabe's government has escalated attacks on political dissenters in recent weeks and no effective international action is being taken to stop the flagrant violation of international law in that country. Lawyers who denounce these attacks on fundamental freedoms and defend victims are now targets."

Makoni and Muchadehama are representing a dozen opposition activists held on charges of detonating a series of bombs across the country.

They were charged with obstructing the course of justice and released on $500 000 bail each on Monday.

Beatrice Mtetwa, the President of the Law Society in Zimbabwe said lawyers would march from the Harare High Court at lunch time on Tuesday to protest at the arrest of their colleagues.

Zimbabwean police have crushed several opposition protests in recent weeks, and it was not immidiately clear if they would allow the lawyers to march.

Mtetwa said: "There is no law that says police must approve the march. It only says they have to be notified, and we have done that.”

Muchadehama and Makoni, both of Harare law firm Mbizo, Muchadehama and Makoni, were arrested last Friday after challenging a certificate issued by Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi imploring a magistrate to refuse a defence application to have charges dismissed against 13 members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Mtetwa’s said their march would be in protest of the going harassment of lawyers in general, and the arrest of Muchafehama and Makoni in particular.

Justice Tedious Karwi ordered on May 4 and May 5 that the lawyers be released over the weekend after ruling that the detentions were unlawful, but police defied
the order right up to their court apperences on Monday.

In recent months attacks and threats on lawyers by state agents have been on the increase, says the Zimbabwe Lawyers For Human Rights (ZLHR).

The ZLHR says another lawyer, Richard Chikosha, was assaulted by the police over the weekend while trying to serve police with Justice's Karwi's order directing the two lawyers' release.

"Chikosha was dragged to the police station where he was assaulted by police and warned by (Musarashana) Mabunda to 'go and reverse Justice Karwi's order',” the ZLHR said.

Mabunda, a veteran of Zimbabwe's liberation war, is the head of the CID’s Law and Order section in Harare.
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