No respite for detained activists as court drags on judgment

By Lance Guma
26 June 2007

A lawyer defending 18 remaining MDC activists says they have not yet received any decision from the courts this week. The activists were detained in remand prison over what have been described as trumped up terrorism charges. Alec Muchadehama told Newsreel they still await a judgment after the court said it would hand down a ruling sometime this week. By Tuesday evening no such decision had been made and Muchadehama said he would now be checking with the Court Registrar on Wednesday.

Glen View Member of Parliament Paul Madzore, senior official Morgan Komichi and 16 others are still locked up despite charges against other activists being dropped. The state is arguing that this group faces separate charges of undergoing military training in South Africa whereas the others faced petrol-bombing allegations. Komichi is said to be critically ill and being kept under guard at West End clinic in Harare. Muchadehama says the courts are still to rule on an application they made seeking his release on medical grounds. He says they have already submitted arguments that Komichi’s medical condition is such that he is unable to jump bail.

The state has so far refused to set a trial date instead choosing to throw excuses about needing more time to investigate. Last week prosecutors told the High Court police investigating ‘banditry training’ in South Africa had been barred from entering that country. Muchadehama believes this was part of a public relations exercise meant to justify the continued detention of his clients. Over the last few weeks the state has been forced into an embarrassing climb down with police withdrawing charges against several activists and the courts ordering their release. Mugabe’s regime is accused of launching a deliberate crackdown on the opposition in an attempt to weaken it ahead of scheduled elections in 2008.