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Civic
group refuses to give up on Mugabe prosecution
ZimOnline
December 04, 2006
http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=569
HARARE - A Zimbabwean
human rights group says it will appeal against Canada's refusal
to indict President Robert Mugabe over human rights violations.
The Pretoria-based
Zimbabwe
Exiles Forum (ZEF), which has been pushing for Mugabe's
indictment in Canadian courts, says they are seeking a judicial
review on the ruling.
Last week, Canada refused
to charge Mugabe over human rights violations saying it had no jurisdiction
to prosecute the veteran Zimbabwean leader.
Canada also said Mugabe
enjoyed immunity as head of state and the crimes he is alleged to
have committed had no direct links with Canada.
But Gabriel Shumba, the
executive director of the ZEF said: "We are going to get a
judicial review of the decision on Mugabe and we have thirty days
in which to appeal. I am already working on this with some lawyers
in Canada."
"Presidential immunity
for crimes against humanity is a moribund excuse. We are not going
to rest until justice is achieved. By this same token, we are also
studying other jurisdictions in which Mugabe can be sued even through
private prosecution like New Zealand.
"Secondly, as part
of our appeal, we are going to press the Canadians to at least indict
some of Mugabe's ministers, since they don't enjoy head of state
immunity," said Shumba, a human rights lawyer who fled Zimbabwe
in 2003 after being tortured by state security agents.
Shumba said there was
enough evidence to charge Mugabe for crimes against humanity citing
the murder of at least 20 000 minority Ndebeles in Matabeleland
and the Midlands provinces in the early 1980s.
Several local
and international human rights groups have often accused Mugabe
of committing serious human rights violations against political
opponents. Mugabe denies the charge. - ZimOnline
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