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Statement on the bombing of VOP offices
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe
August 29 2002

The Media Monitoring Project (MMPZ) condemns outright the bombing of the Voice of the People (VOP), a private radio station, as a cowardly and desperate attempt to silence independent and alternative sources of information to the Zimbabwean public. The bombing is a blow to Zimbabweans' constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of expression and to receive and disseminate information unhindered. It further erodes the nation's democratic aspirations.

Zimbabwe has in the past three years witnessed three incidences of bombing of private media offices and printing presses. This morning's bombing of the VOP offices is the fourth such attack. A worrying
aspect of all this is that, in the previous cases, no arrests or successful prosecution have been reported.

The Zimbabwean public depends upon fair and accurate reporting from a variety of news media if it is to make informed decisions. An attack on any media institution is an attack on us all.

MMPZ therefore calls upon the authorities to ensure that justice prevails in order to discourage further attacks, and to reaffirm the authority of the rule of law.

Visit the MMPZ fact sheet

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