Court orders fresh probe into MDC jail beatings

Court orders fresh probe into MDC jail beatings

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By Staff Reporter

A ZIMBABWEAN court on Monday ordered police to launch a fresh investigation into charges that 30 opposition members were beaten in custody after an initial probe suggested they were not assaulted, a lawyer said.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) activists were arrested in March on links to petrol bomb attacks against police, government and ruling party targets. They have been in custody since then.

Alec Muchadehama, a lawyer for the MDC, said Harare magistrate Gloria Takundwa had made the order after police said an initial investigation showed no one was assaulted.

"The order was made because the police did not comply with the initial order to investigate the assaults, they just glossed over the issue," Muchadehama told Reuters.

Muchadehama said defence attorneys were now bogged down in court making bail applications and trying to force the state to set a trial date for the activists.

A High Court judge last month ruled that defence lawyers could make an application to have the 30 released if the state had not set a trial date by Monday. Muchadehama said that has still not happened.

President Robert Mugabe's government has accused the MDC of launching a "terror" campaign with the help of funding from his Western foes. The MDC denies the charges and says authorities have intensified a crackdown on its members ahead of presidential and parliamentary polls next year. - Reuters
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