High profile lawyer Samkange released after state drops charges

By Violet Gonda
16 May 2007

Outspoken criminal lawyer Jonathan Samkange has said his arrest was an attempt to “frustrate” him but warned that it has only made him determined. Samkange was released on Tuesday after the state withdrew charges against him due to lack of evidence. Although it’s been reported that he was accused of violating a section of the Immigration Act Samkange said the arresting officers did not even have any clue as to why they were arresting him. He said: “Throughout the time all the police officers at no stage – this is a strange one – I was never told that I was under arrest, I was never really given a proper explanation as to why they want me, except everyone was simply saying they were apologising.”

Samkange was picked up from his Harare home close to midnight on Monday, and taken to Avondale police station where he was later transferred to Rhodesville police station without being told anything. The next morning he was taken to CID headquarters, and later moved to the Attorney General’s Office where he finally got an explanation. Samkange said: “It is being alleged that I had filled in an application form for a visa in which I said (Duye) Chikambo is my visitor or a friend and did not disclose that he was coming to testify.” He denies these accusations.

Duye Chikambo is a politician from Equatorial Guinea who Samkange intended to call to support Simon Mann’s claim that if he were to be extradited to Equatorial Guinea he would be tortured. Chikambo himself spent six months in jail on charges of plotting a coup in the West African country. Samkange said he would have given evidence that was direct because he had been subjected to the torture. Samkange revealed that Chikambo will not step foot in Zimbabwe because the moment he lands at the airport the Zimbabwean government will deport him to Equatorial Guinea.

Samkange is representing Mann, the former British special forces officer wanted by Equatorial Guinea on allegations of plotting a coup there. The alleged mercenary was arrested in 2004 for flouting Zimbabwean immigration and aviation laws. But he was slapped with a warrant for deportation on completing his prison term last week. Samkange is filing an appeal in the High Court.

Legal practitioners say it is increasingly becoming difficult to practice law in Zimbabwe. On Tuesday 10 lawyers were briefly detained after they conducted a protest march in Mutare. The legal practitioners were registering their concerns over police harassment of lawyers.

One of the lawyers that took part in Tuesday’s protests, Tinoziva Bere a councillor with the Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ), said the arrests are part of the exercise of intimidating and harassing lawyers so that they do not continue to occupy the position of being guardians of justice.

Some critics say lawyers are more useful acting behind the scenes rather than taking part in demonstrations because they are no use to their clients if they are behind bars. Asked about this, Bere responded: “We are being abused, we are being harassed, we are being threatened, we are being arrested, we are being unlawfully detained just for doing our work. They have denied us access to accused persons in jail and even when they have arrested our members they have denied them access to lawyers. They have invaded lawyers’ offices and confiscated files and documents from clients’ files, in total disregard of the right of a lawyer to the privacy of information that he holds in respect of a client.”
Bere added: “ I think when they defy court orders you have to say at some point enough is enough we are not lawyers if there is no confidentiality of information in our custody, we are not lawyers if you can’t go to the police station and get the respect that you deserve!” He said ultimately lawyers couldn’t pretend things are normal and are now starting to behave like “real lawyers” and speaking out.

The LSZ councilor said the majority of lawyers in Zimbabwe know what is right and what is wrong and it is only a tiny minority that has been benefiting from the establishment who have lost courage to defend what is right.

So far 19 lawyers have been arrested this month alone.