Zimbabwe lawyers to boycott courts Wednesday

By Violet Gonda
26 June 2007

Members of the legal society will boycott the courts countrywide on Wednesday in protest of the general ill treatment of lawyers. Lawyers have been under systematic attack and have decided not to attend the courts to highlight the violation of their rights by the state. Several members of the legal profession, including Beatrice Mtetwa the president of the Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) have been arrested, beaten, and harassed by the authorities in recent weeks.

Rangu Nyamurundira from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said this plan to boycott the courts follows a meeting that was held by the LSZ with its various members across the country in Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare, Gweru and Masvingo. Nyamurundira said the group agreed to stay away from the courts because lawyers were beaten and detained the last time they tried to march peacefully.

He said: “By boycotting the courts, we are saying that the courts are where the lawyer plays his role in society and we are sending a clear message that there is no longer any use for us attending courts when we are being beaten up, and being arrested by the police when we are representing our clients. It’s as good as actually stopping us from going to these courts.”