The State plans to try and revoke the bail just granted to Dhlamini, Manyere and Mudzingwa
A media article appearing in The Herald today suggests that the State is pursuing a plan to revoke the bail just granted to the last three abductees who were in custody (click on the clipping above to read the full article). The three have their trial date set for 29 June 2009.
Earlier today we posted a Veritas update, explaining how the three remaining abductees in custody – Andrisson Manyere, Gandhi Mudzingwa and Chris Dhlamini – were granted bail on Friday. They had been granted bail on the 9th of April, but as is the State’s tactic, the prosecution immediately blocked their release by notifying its intention to appeal against the bail to a judge of the Supreme Court. This notification immediately meant that the three abductees remained in custody for a further seven days, while the State lodged their appeal. However, the State failed to lodge the appeal within the seven days required by law, and as a result, all three were released on bail in line with the 9th April ruling.
Today’s article in The Herald says that the State has been granted leave to appeal against the release of the three abductees on bail. You will note the bias still present in The Herald’s reporting – especially the exclusion of the key fact that the State did not lodge an appeal within the required seven days and that this was why the three were released on Friday. And while considerable weight is given to discussion of the new inclusive government and the political aspects of the case, no mention is made at all that two of the abductees are still in hospital as a result of brutal treatment at the hands of the State.
As hard as it may be for people outside Zimbabwe to believe, torture in our country is actually illegal – but not something the State or the state-controlled media appear to give much weight too.
We have just received an email received from someone who has spoken to Chris Dhlamini – one of the abductees still hospitalised for torture injuries sustained while he was in custody – and it highlights the extreme anxiety the article has produced in the three:
I have just spoken to Chris in his hospital bed at The Avenues Clinic in Harare and he is extremely anxious at this latest news. He is recovering from hand and wrist fractures, back injuries and a ruptured eardrum as well as injuries to his feet caused by the vicious method of torture known as falanga. Gandhi is also still in hospital with him.
Chris describes his torture as “hell on earth” and says there is still no respect for the rule of law. He says that the same people who terrorised them are still continuing to operate with impunity and are protected by their connections to the Minister of Justice, the Magistrates Courts and the High Court.
It is essential for the transitional government to make an immediate stand on the issue and to protect the rights and the lives of these three brave men.
In the meanwhile the three abductees continue to be yanked around by the state, their fundamental rights as Zimbabwen citizens ignored.
It is absolutely horrific.
