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Lawyers vindicated once again as Muchadehama is removed from remand
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
June 01, 2009

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) welcomes the removal from remand of its member and prominent human rights lawyer, Alec Muchadehama, in a ruling delivered at around mid-day on Monday 1 June 2009.

Magistrate Catherine Chimanda granted Muchadehama's application for refusal of further remand after determining that the State, represented by Prosecutor Tapiwa Kasema, had failed to show any reasonable suspicion that he had committed the alleged offence. The Magistrate also found that the State had failed to prove that Muchadehama had an intention to commit the offence.

Magistrate Chimanda said the State's evidence tendered in court did not prove that Muchadehama caused High Court Registry officials to unlawfully cause the release from custody of his clients, Kisimusi Dhlamini, Gandi Mudzingwa and Andrison Manyere. She further held that if Muchadehama intended to defeat or obstruct the course of justice he would not have communicated with and notified Chris Mutangadura of the Attorney General's Office in writing that he was seeking the release of his clients due to the lapse of the 7-day period in which the State was supposed to file its appeal but which it had failed to do.

However, Magistrate Chimanda dismissed the defence's application for the recusal of Attorney General, Johannes Tomana, and his law officers from handling the matter.

The defence lawyers had argued that neither Tomana nor any of the law officers in the Attorney General's office could be both the complainant and the prosecuting authority in the case due to the inherent conflict of interest that this raises. Furthermore the defence lawyers had also told the court that the Officer in Charge, Law and Order, Chief Inspector Henry Dowa had confirmed to Muchadehama's lawyers that the Attorney General had lodged the complaint which led to Muchadehama's arrest.

The Magistrate ruled that there was no real merit in the defence's application as the Attorney General can "in some matters stand as complainant and prosecutor". She stated that if the defence lawyers had requested her to refer the matter to the Supreme Court for a constitutional challenge she could have granted the application.

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