Supreme Court denies 3 political detainees bail
By Violet Gonda
6 April 2009

Supreme Court Judge Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku has dismissed a bail application by three political detainees who have been in custody for four months.

MDC officials Chris Dhlamini, Gandhi Mudzingwa and photo-journalist Shadreck Andrew Manyere are among a group of seven people facing charges of sabotage, terrorism and banditry. They are accused of bombing police stations and railway lines to destabilise the Mugabe regime. Four co-accused persons were granted bail in February by High Court Judge Justice Yunus Omerjee, but Dhlamini, Mudzingwa and Manyare were denied.

Defence lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court and on Monday Justice Chidyausiku dismissed the application saying there was no misdirection to the earlier ruling by Justice Omerjee. The State alleges the three political detainees were found in possession of ‘explosive weapons.’

Lawyer Charles Kwaramba said the charges are fictitious and that is why the State has not been able to produce any evidence to bolster their accusations in court. Kwaramba said in the case of Dhlamini and Manyere, the state claims to have found fuses used to detonate dynamite and 48 rounds of ammunition respectively, after having conducted illegal searches at their homes in the absence of the accused or their lawyers. In Mudzingwa’s case, the State claims to have found a teargas canister in his pocket. However Mudzingwa says that his wallet and other possessions were in fact stolen by his abductors when he was kidnapped at gunpoint.

Scores of political and civic activists were abducted from their homes or workplaces during the months of October and December last year. All known activists except the three were released recently, but the MDC says at least seven more are still missing.

Human rights lawyers are going to file another urgent bail application in the High Court on Tuesday. A statement by the MDC on Monday said the continued detention of the three political detainees is going against the spirit and letter of the Global Political Agreement.

“The continued detention of MDC activists has nothing to do with the law but is a product of political machinations of the residual elements in ZANU PF and the securocrats who are waging a perpetual battle to scuttle change by undermining the inclusive government.”

“The MDC calls for the immediate release of the three prisoners and the scores of MDC activists who are being held in secret locations after they were abducted by State security agents last year,” the statement said.