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7 abductees charged as state continues playing legal game
Alex Bell, SW Radio Africa
January 07, 2009

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news070109/abductees070109.htm

Seven activists on Wednesday appeared in the Harare Magistrates Court in connection with a series of minor bomb blasts in the capital last year. They became the first group of the more than 40 abductees, to be formally charged by the state.

The seven, including the Tsvangirai MDC head of security Chris Dhlamini and Tsvangirai's former aide Gandhi Mudzingwa, all pleaded not guilty to the charges of terrorism, banditry and insurgency laid against them on Wednesday. Defence lawyer Andrew Makoni explained that the case was further deferred to Thursday and said a new application has been filed on behalf of the seven, listing their complaints about their treatment during their unlawful detention. Makoni argued that despite the charges, the defence is still fighting for the group's remand to be refused, saying there is "no evident reason or knowable suspicion for the group to be placed on remand."

In court lawyer Alec Muchadehama said the group had been 'severely tortured' by state security agents after their abductions, and explained that not a single member of the group had been lawfully detained. He said: "No arrest took place. Each one of them is a victim of abduction and forced disappearance by state agents. None of them was arrested in terms of the law."

The group could face the death penalty if they are found guilty of being involved in two minor blasts at Harare police stations and a blast at a railway line in Norton last year. The questionable circumstances surrounding the blasts, which at the time were linked to a ZANU PF attempt to implicate the MDC, and the subsequent abductions and charging of the seven activists, has raised questions over whether the bombs were in fact set off to create convenient evidence in the current case.

Adding more fuel to the fire is speculation this week that a so-called 'assassination attempt,' targeting Air Force Commander Perrence Shiri last year, was in fact an elaborate hoax by Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF as part of it's ongoing effort to build a case against the MDC. Shiri was supposedly wounded in the hand after being shot at while driving from his farm in Shamva in December. In the days that followed, state-controlled media launched a propaganda assault on the MDC, reporting that the attack was a "build up of terror attacks targeting high profile persons, government officials, government establishments and public transportation systems".

The deliberate manipulation of events to build a case against the MDC has been clearly evident in the case launched against abducted human rights activist Jestina Mukoko and her eight co-accused. The group is yet to be formally charged after being accused of attempting to recruit fighters to train in neighboring Botswana to overthrow Mugabe. Their case was postponed for the second time this week on Tuesday, and the group is set to remain in custody until their next Magistrate's Court appearance on the 14th January. Lawyers are still pursuing applications in the High Court for the abductees to receive proper care outside of the Chikurubi prison where they are being held. But despite evidence of being tortured and seriously injured during their detention, a High Court judge over the weekend refused to handle the medical affidavits, citing a 'legal irregularity'.

Such legal irregularities have been prominent since the abductees' first court appearances last year, as the state has continued to play a legal game with the defence and the abductees. Mukoko and the other abductees that have been accounted for meanwhile have been shuttled to and from solitary confinement; all while being denied medical treatment. This includes the two year old son of Violet Mupfuranhehwe who is held in solitary confinement with his mother, and who is also yet to receive proper medical care after being beaten in a very cruel effort to glean information from his mother.

And while such a high stakes game is being played in court, it would appear that the safety and whereabouts of at least 10 other abductees remains either a closely guarded secret or a mystery. The MDC has said that more than 40 people were abducted last year, and despite Tsvangirai issuing Mugabe with what has proved to be a fruitless ultimatum to produce the abductees by the 1st January, only 30 people were eventually produced.

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