2 MDC activists and 4 police officers allege torture in arms cache fiasco

By Violet Gonda
13 March 2006

Lawyers representing the eight men accused of plotting to kill Robert Mugabe have said six of their clients were tortured and assaulted by state agents, to force them to admit to a crime they totally deny.
The suspects who appeared in court on Saturday were remanded to appear in court again Wednesday, including MDC MP Giles Mutsekwa. Their lawyers said they will apply for refusal of remand.
The opposition activists were arrested last week following claims by the police of the discovery of an arms cache at the home of Peter Hitschmann in Mutare.

The 4 policemen charged in the case said they were tortured and assaulted to force them to admit their guilt. The 2 activists, Thando Sibanda and Knowledge Nyamhoka, also disowned their statements saying they were badly beaten up and made to confess under duress.

Innocent Gonese, an MDC MP who is also one of the lawyers representing the suspects, said the police officers are accused of selling arms and weapons to Peter Hitschmann and said; “But in court they denied it and indicated that they had been assaulted, beaten up and tortured to coerce them to admit that they were indeed guilty of the crimes they were being alleged to have committed.”
Mutare North MP Giles Mutsekwa complained in court that he was being denied access to his legal practitioners and relatives.

The state also made fresh allegations this past weekend accusing the group of plotting to assassinate Mugabe last month when he arrived in Mutare for his 82nd birthday bash.
Gonese said, “these allegations are also in the same vein because there is no shed of evidence being offered and where you’ve got cases where there is no evidence the likelihood is that it’s just a creation to try to divert attention from the current economic problems which the people of Zimbabwe are facing.”
Meanwhile the MDC provincial treasurer for Manicaland Brian James, who was also arrested last week, was released on Sunday night without charge.