Human Rights Abuses Perpetrated Against “Criminals”
August 19th, 2011
Recently, The Chronicle published an article on a suspected armed robber, featured on the police’s most-wanted list. He was killed in police custody and according to the police, the suspect died after he tried to shoot detectives during crime scene investigations.
A question arises: since when, in the life of a professional police force, does an armed robber go for investigation without being manacled? In some cases, the accused is bound in long chains so an officer can control his movements like a dog on a leash. All the more worrying is that this is the sixth or perhaps seventh time that the media has reported a robber killed after “attempting to shoot and kill police” during investigations.
As a result, there is now a profound fear among inmates on remand that a suspect is most at risk once the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) say they require investigations to be made with the assistance of the accused. Not surprisingly, but confirming their fears, a former CID officer recently testified in a Bulawayo court that fellow detectives deliberately shot and killed an accused in their custody. The retired policeman alleges his colleagues committed perjury when they submitted that a suspect had physically resisted officers.
Regardless, how and where does an accused, bound in chains, get the strength, let alone a gun, to attack those holding him captive? So whilst human rights activists protest against the death penalty, Zimbabwe could be allowing the ZRP to carry out extra-judicial deaths with impunity.
