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Tortured journalists win claims for damages
MISA-Zimbabwe
April 05, 2005

Ray Choto and the estate of the late Mark Chavunduka, have been paid a total of more than $20 million in damages and interest claims for the torture and unlawful arrest they suffered following the publication of an alleged abortive coup plot in 1999.

The damages were awarded posthumously to Chavunduka who was editor of the privately-owned weekly Standard newspaper together with Choto who was his senior reporter at the material time.

Choto is now based in Washington DC, USA.

The damages inclusive of duplum interest, which were largely settled in full, arose from claims for wrongful arrest and imprisonment, torture, medical treatment and legal costs.

MISA-Zimbabwe confirmed that on 22 February this year, their lawyer Simon Bull wrote to the Chavunduka family and Choto informing them that they had struck an out-of-court settlement with the Civil Division of the Attorney General Office.

Besides the other claims, Choto alone was paid 1 558 British pounds sterling at the prevailing auction rate at the date of payment out of the 2 077,72 pounds sterling which he was claiming in special damages for accommodation in England while undergoing rehabilitative therapy and medical treatment.

In addition to the claims, the State also paid $3 277 500 as contribution to the legal costs incurred by the two journalists.

In December 1998 the Standard published a story which claimed that 23 Zimbabwe National Army soldiers were detained at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison after they had allegedly incited other soldiers to revolt against President Robert Mugabe’s government.

The army said the story was false leading to the arrest of the two journalists who spent a week in the hands of the military. The two were arrested by the police in January 1999 and handed over to army officers following publication of the abortive coup plot story.

Chavunduka and Choto who claimed that they had been tortured by military personnel while in custody, were subsequently charged under Section 50 (2) of the now repealed Law and Order Maintenance Act for publishing "false news likely to cause alarm and despondency".

Their claims of torture were confirmed by a local government media doctor who treated them while they were still in police custody. Further confirmation of their torture claims were corroborated by local and foreign experts who examined them.The government, at the time, vigorously denied that the journalists had been tortured, with the late Defence Minister ,Moven Mahachi saying the two had scratched themselves.

The charges were subsequently dropped before plea after the Supreme Court ruled in May 2000, that the section in question was unconstitutional as it infringed on the right to freedom of expression.

Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay, now retired, also called for an inquiry into the alleged torture of the journalists and ordered Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri to conduct an investigation and arrest the perpetrators with the aim of bringing them before a competent jurisdiction for prosecution.

Nothing has been heard of what became of the inquiry ordered by Chief Justice Gubbay nor has anyone been arrested in connection with the torture of the two.

The journalists, however, travelled to London in 1999 were they received both medical and psychological treatment from the Medical Foundation for Care of Victims of Torture.

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