|
Back to Index
'Prisoners
stay naked in condemned cells'
Charles Laiton,
NewsDay
March 15, 2011
http://www.newsday.co.zw/article/2011-03-15-prisoners-stay-naked-in-condemned-cells
Albert Mugove Matapo,
a remand prison inmate facing treason charges and another one for
allegedly attempting a jailbreak with six other prisoners, told
the court this week he was kept naked for a month, in darkness and
in leg-irons.
This came out in an application
for referral of the case to the Supreme Court made by the prisoners'
lawyers Charles Warara and Gift Nyandoro before regional magistrate
Morgan Nemadire.
The inmates cited violation
of their constitutional rights.
Matapo, Silas
Sarezi Shonhiwa, Phillip Chivhurunge, Ruperts Chimanga, Luck Mhungu
and Bigknows Wairesi allege the state violated Section 15(1) and
18 of the Constitution
of Zimbabwe that deals with protection against inhuman treatment.
Warara said he also wanted
the Supreme Court to determine whether it was constitutional for
accused persons to appear in court wearing labelled clothes and
standing trial while in leg-irons.
Warara submitted that
at one point, one of his clients, Matapo, was made to spend a month
naked in a cell with only two blankets.
The lawyer claimed his
clients were subjected to punishment without trial since their arrest
four years ago.
"My client (Matapo)
was removed from a normal prison cell and taken to a cell called
FB1 where conditions are that no natural light gets into the cell
and, in the absence of electric lights, my client spends 24 hours
in darkness," Warara said.
The lawyers also reminded
the court that the FB1 prison cells were condemned by the Supreme
Court and said prison authorities had reopened the condemned cells,
which had been closed, specifically to accommodate their clients.
"It is torture
to live in that cell where the toilet has no flashing system,"
Warara said. "My client only gets water to flush the toilet
at the discretion of the prison officers. Matapo has been living
under such conditions for the past 11 months."
He also said Matapo and
his co-accused were allowed to leave their cells for just 30 minutes
a day and spent twenty-three-and-a-half hours locked in cells measuring,
4,5 metres by 1,5 metres.
Prosecutor Michael Razor
is expected to respond to the allegations and an application by
Warara on Friday.
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
