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Judge sues newspaper
MISA-Zimbabwe
August 01, 2006

The case in which former High Court Judge President Justice Paddington Garwe is suing the Zimbabwe Independent for Zimdollars 75 billion opened in Harare on 31 August 2006.

Justice Garwe who is now on the Supreme Court bench is suing the privately owned weekly following the publication of a story in 2004 claiming that he had been blocked by assessors from passing judgment in the treason trial of opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

In his evidence, Justice Garwe said the article was very irresponsible as it implied that he had reached a decision in Tsvangirai’s trial without discussing the evidence with the assessors. He said as Judge President he occupied a senior position in the judiciary and his reputation was damaged considering that he also sits on international judiciary boards.

"I was hurt. I must put it on record the decision to institute these proceedings was not easy. I asked the newspaper to simply apologise but there was no apology even up to now, they have not apologised.

Asked by Advocate Francois Joubert why he was not suing other newspapers in South Africa and the United Kingdom that picked the story and published, he said he did not have the financial capacity to so proceed.

Editor Vincent Kahiya and reporter Augustine Mukaro are cited as respondents.

In its story published on 30 July 2004, the Zimbabwe Independent claimed that assessors Major Mischeck Nyandoro and Joseph Dangarembizi had blocked Justice Garwe from passing his judgment before they could review transcripts of the trial.

The case continues on 1 August 2006 with more witnesses expected to testify.

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