via RadioVop Zimbabwe – Zim Police Launch Fresh Crackdown On Lawyers May 8, 2014
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) has represented many human rights defenders brought before the country’s courts.
Police on Thursday launched a fresh crackdown on human rights lawyers by preferring charges against Trust Maanda, a prominent attorney, who has successfully represented several human rights defenders and opposition political activists in Zimbabwe.
According to a statement released by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), Maanda was charged with defeating or obstructing the course of justice in contravention of Section 184 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act on Thursday, when he reported at Southerton Police Station after being summoned by the police.
Although details about the charges preferred against Maanda were still sketchy, Radio VOP understands from its sources that the police claim that the human rights lawyer defeated or obstructed the course of justice when he recently represented some Mbada Diamonds employees in filing a lawsuit in the High Court against Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi, and Police Commissioner-General over the seizure of their vehicles which were confiscated by the police when they were arrested in connection with a $3 million diamond theft case.
In their High Court lawsuit, the Mbada Diamonds employees revealed that police officers forced them to admit that they sold diamonds to Mudassar Khan who in turn bought them vehicles. The employees said they made such a confession in order to save themselves from further harassment by the police.
Maanda, who in 2010 was part of the legal team that secured the acquittal of MDC treasurer-general and former Chimanimani legislator Roy Bennett is the second human rights lawyer to be targeted by Zimbabwean authorities in less than two years after the police preferred the same charges against award winning human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa in March last year.
However, Mtetwa was acquitted of the charges in November although the National Prosecuting Authority has appealed against her discharge.
COMMENTS
Zanu will not tolerate any organise civil association except Zanu. This is the final frontier in their efforts to try and pre empt any civil disobedience from the now restless mass. The Scribes, Lawyers and labour will face the wrath of Zanu.
I fear you are right RA and they need to face the wrath of the people to understand the error of their ways.
No one works harder than the ZRP .They spend every waking moment plotting who to target, who to practice their baton swing on and which Kombi to spike, whose life to make miserable.All the Police I see in Zimbabwe are emaciated,lack muscle definition but collectively they know better than any other force how to subjugate their own. Such a useful tool for the dictators that rule Zimbabwe. They have drawn so much blood since Chihuri came in, one wonders how many rivers they could fill. For all this though they are paid…you guessed peanuts!!
They wonder why there in a lack of investment??
Wasting time and money when they already know that these lawyers will be discharged. Why not arrest Zanu criminals that disrupted the MDC rally last week? At least they will be assured of a conviction, even though it might include some fellow officers.
The rule of law is the fundamental cornerstone of any social order. When police arrest lawyers for carrying out their mandate to uphold the rule of law, then anarchy and primitivism is the next stop.
@roving ambassador – If an organidsation is about regime change and receives foreign funding then it is not civil society it is a terrorism organization in any country in the world.
Its the begining of rovings education.Locally they refer to terrorist organisations as civil society as the local thickies will believe it. In any country in the world foreign funded organisations that are anti-government are termed terrorism organisations.
We have no human rights organisations as again they have to be apolitical to exist in that category – name one that is?
Fr sure our government doesnt learn and is as sly as a fox.On the world stage they claim t be upholding human rights at the same time squashing an human rights voice in the country.Who is fooling who here and which investor is gonna invest in such a country.Honestly this is shooting oneself on the foot.Aluta economic meltdown.
Is this idiot Bob a signatory to the UN Charter? he seems to break every rule in the book
Which rule say that lawyers are allowed to break the law and get preferential treatment.
Quote laws if you say they exist don’t just blow hot air and look stupid.
The police and prosecutor are under pressure from the ICC to clean up the local legal fraternity and idiots who have no comprehension of what’s happening will just remain under their blsnket while it happens.
The international legal system is working with ours so they and you idiots cant win, and we the right thinking public will benefit.