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Attack on Chipinge Magistrate and Legal Practitioner
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
August 30, 2002

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights expresses its shock and outrage at the brutal assault of a Chipinge magistrate by suspected war veterans, as reported in The Daily News on 20 August 2002.

It gravely concerns us that a judicial officer can be dragged out of a court in session and publicly assaulted without the intervention of the police. We note that all sitting courts are attended by at least one member of the Zimbabwe Republic Police, whose duties include maintaining order in the courtroom. It appears that not only was no attempt made to stop this assault, but also no report was subsequently made to the police station.

We are further dismayed that a legal practitioner was targeted by the suspected war veterans, had his property vandalised and has had to flee Chipinge with his family merely for performing his duty to his client according to the laws of Zimbabwe.

Such attacks seriously undermine the independence of the Judiciary and the power of the courts to administer justice without fear or favour. They also highlight the intolerable working conditions and potential personal danger to which officers of the court are currently being subjected.

The apparent failure of the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to comment on the matter or to take appropriate action has only added to the perception that these officials are disregarding their duty to protect the Magistrates and judicial officers at large. Without such safeguards judicial officers cannot carry out their duties in a free, fair and impartial way.

We urge all judicial officers concerned to continue discharging their responsibilities in a professional and neutral manner, and we call on the relevant authorities to act to put an immediate end to such unlawful and intemperate behaviour before there is a complete breakdown of the rule of law and law and order in Zimbabwe.

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