|
Back to Index
Legal
Monitor - Issue 29
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
January 29, 2010
Download
this article
- Acrobat
PDF version (1.09MB)
If you do not have the free Acrobat reader
on your computer, download it from the Adobe website by clicking
here.
Court
victory for lawyers
A High Court
Judge has ordered police chief Augustine Chihuri to investigate
criminal conduct of members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP),
particularly allegations of contempt of court and assault of arrested
persons.
Justice Alfas
Chitakunye delivered the landmark ruling in an application by the
Law Society of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and six
other individual legal practitioners seeking a declaratory order
to prohibit members of the ZRP from hindering, obstructing or taking
any action which impedes lawyers from gaining access to their clients
and carrying out their lawful duties.
Numerous legal
practitioners, have, over the past decade, been denied access to
clients in police custody in contravention of constitutional protective
provisions relating to detained persons.
They have also
been verbally abused and intimidated, physically assaulted by police
and even arrested and detained whilst trying to carry out their
professional duties.
Lawyers have
also been prohibited from establishing the welfare of their clients
and not permitted to provide food, medical assistance and treatment
to detained clients. Most of the time legal practitioners are told
of "directives" issued by senior police officers barring
the lawyers access to clients.
In most cases
the majority of the detainees would have been subject of High Court
orders which enjoin the police Commissioner-General, Chihuri, and
his subordinates, to take all necessary steps to release the lawyers'
clients. Nevertheless, police continue to defy such court orders
and directives.
In his judgment
released recently Justice Chitakunye ordered Chihuri to probe complaints
of contempt of court and hindrance of lawyers in accessing their
detained clients by the police. The police chief was ordered to
take all necessary action to ensure the prosecution of the offending
police officers.
"That the
first respondent (Chihuri) causes an investigation to be conducted
into the criminal conduct of members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police
complained of in this application, particularly the assaults and
contempt of court," read part of Justice Chitakunye's judgment.
Justice Chitakunye
further ordered Chihuri and his officers to refrain from hindering
legal practitioners from exercising their rights and said that those
who disrespect the order shall be guilty of being in contempt of
court.
Despite this
landmark ruling, the conduct of the police has not changed and lawyers
continue to face challenges when attending police stations to assist
their clients. Neitheir has it been revealed whether the investigation
has commenced.
Download
the full document
Visit the ZLHR
fact
sheet
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
