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Evidence of Chiadzwa massacre could be used to prosecute Mugabe
Alex Bell, SW Radio Africa
August 10, 2011

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news100811/evidence100811.htm

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has said that the evidence gained during a BBC investigation into human rights abuses at the Chiadzwa diamond fields, could be used to prosecute Robert Mugabe.

The BBC's Panorama investigative series this week revealed the extent of the human rights abuses at the diamond fields, including the ongoing use of torture camps controlled by the military. The Panorama team was also able to gather hard evidence and shocking testimonies of the military-led killing of hundreds of diamond panners in the area in 2008.

A soldier who took the risk of speaking to Panorama detailed how the killings unfolded, and also said that such an operation "would not have been possible" without orders from the top.

The top three officials implicated in ordering the Chiadzwa murders are Robert Mugabe, Constantine Chiwenga and Perence Shiri - the same men behind the Gukurahundi killings of the 1980s. The ICC has not been able to prosecute the ageing ZANU PF leader or his cronies for the mass murders then, despite the killings recently being classified as genocide.

Louis Moreno-Ocampo from the ICC told Panorama, who approached the court with their evidence, that the massacres in Chiadzwa could be classed crimes against humanity.

"Anyone who wanted to investigate this would have an incredible advantage with the information you provided," Moreno-Ocampo told Panorama. "Can I do it? Not today. As soon as the (UN) Security Council refers the case to my office, my office could use this information to start a good case."

But as the Panorama team points out, the reality is that Mugabe is unlikely to be prosecuted "because there isn't the international will to push for it."

Journalist Geoff Hill, who, together with a team helped research the Panorama series and gather the critical evidence, told SW Radio Africa that it is unlikely that Mugabe will ever be prosecuted outside the country.

"While he is well, it is unlikely that South Africa and China would allow this to go through the security council," Hill said, explaining how both countries, as rotating and permanent members of the Council respectively, blocked action on Zimbabwe in the past.

But he added that it is not just Mugabe who should face prosecution for the crimes.

"The people involved in the Chiadzwa massacres, some of them are as young as 20. People need to be gathering the evidence now. Every Zimbabwean should be gathering evidence so that in the coming years, there is enough evidence to stand up in the ICC," Hill said.

Hill, an accredited genocide scholar, was instrumental in getting the Gukurahundi massacres of the 1980s certified as genocide last year. He explained that the field of genocide law is quite new, and "rapidly changing."

"Under normal circumstances the ICC can only deal with cases from countries that are signatories to it, and Zimbabwe is not. But the precedent has been set, and recently the ICC issued a warrant for Sudan's President Omar Al-Bashir, even though Sudan is not a member," Hill said.

He added: "In the meantime, the evidence must be gathered and that has to happen now."

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