Lawyer 'puzzled' as Mukoko denied bail

Lawyer 'puzzled' as Mukoko denied bail

• 'I was barefoot, with no pants on': Mukoko tells of moment she was abducted

• 'Incompetent lawyers' botched Mukoko freedom bid - judge

• Toddler held with parents in Mugabe plot freed

• Tsvangirai's adviser, 6 others charged in bomb plot

• Mukoko, 8 others to remain in jail until Jan. 4

• Judge rules Mukoko must see doctor

• Judge rules Mukoko must be treated in prison

• Magistrate rules activists must stay in jail as Tsvangirai deadline looms

• Mukoko says she was tortured, wants charges dropped

• Magistrate withholds contempt ruling on Mukoko and others

• Mukoko, 9 others charged with plot to overthrow Mugabe

Posted to the web: 04/02/2009 16:36:12
A HIGH Court judge dismissed a bail application by human rights campaigner Jestina Mukoko on Wednesday.

Mukoko and dozens of other activists were charged with recruiting or attempting to recruit people to overthrow President Robert Mugabe’s government. They deny the charges.

Harrison Nkomo, representing Mukoko, said he was puzzled by a judgment handed down by Justice Alfias Chitakunye instructing Mukoko to go back to the magistrates court and have charges against her properly read out.

"I was puzzled by the decision but it has left me with no choice but to seek leave of appeal directly to the Supreme Court," said Nkomo.

Lawyers for Mukoko, a former news reader for state television, say she and the other activists are in need of urgent medical care. Despite repeated orders by judges for authorities to allow doctors access, the lawyers say these orders are largely being defied.

Mukoko and the other suspects testified in court that they were tortured into making admissions of plotting to overthrow Mugabe’s government through recruiting bandits who would be trained in Botswana before being redeployed to lead an insurrection. Full details of the alleged plot will not be known until the matter goes to full trial.
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