Beatrice Mtetwa, the lawyer representing incarcerated opposition Citizens Coalition for Change legislator Job Sikhala yesterday applied for the arrest of deputy Prosecutor-General Michael Reza and prosecutor Lancelot Mutsokoti for contempt of court after they refused to furnish her with State papers for her client.
Harare magistrate Feresi Chakanyuka had on August 18 issued
a ruling directing Reza and Mutsokoti to release the State papers.
Sikhala and his co-accused opposition Citizens Coalition
for Change Chitungwiza North legislator Godfrey Sithole have spent a record 86
days in remand prison facing charges of incitement to violence allegedly
committed during the funeral of opposition activist Moreblessing Ali in
Nyatsime, Chitungwiza..
Mtetwa made the bid to have the prosecutors arrested when
she appeared before magistrate Taurai Manuwere yesterday.
She is representing the duo together with Jeremiah Bhamu,
who is taking instructions from the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum and the
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.
Mtetwa said Mutsokoti lied before the court on August 3
that Sikhala’s docket was ready for trial and ordinarily, she was supposed to
be furnished with the State papers.
“The two accused (Sikhala and Sithole) are being subjected
to a different type of justice. They were given a trial date almost two months
ago and up to now, no State papers have been provided,” Mtetwa said.
“We now request that Messrs Reza and Mutsokoti be placed in
custody until the defence papers are provided ... so that the State, particularly the
prosecution, understands that the powers they wield are constitutional powers
that they hold on behalf of the people of Zimbabwe and that they prosecute on
our behalf and, therefore, such powers will not be abused.”
Asked why the State papers were not furnished, Mutsokoti
requested for an adjournment to allow him to consult his superiors. After the
adjournment, he claimed he had been advised that the intention was to serve the
defence with the full set of State papers.
Manuwere will deliver his ruling on Friday.
Meanwhile, legal expert Robert Amsterdam has said Sikhala
is a political prisoner.
Amsterdam was speaking during a Twitter space co-hosted by
NewsDay assistant editor Alfonce Mbizwo and Alpha Media Holdings digital and
online editor Silence Mugadzaweta recently.
The discussion was held under the theme Selective
Application of the Law in Zimbabwe. Nyatsime 13. Is the Zimbabwean Justice
System Fair?
“Throughout the country, really since the inception of
self-government in 1980 and even before that, the history of Zanu PF in their
brutality in the camps before independence just demonstrates a complete
disregard for rule of law,” Amsterdam said.
“In talking about justice in Zimbabwe, we don’t need to
call a spade a shovel. Justice does not exist for those whose political beliefs
and party memberships differ from Zanu PF.”
Amsterdam said there was evident selective application of
the law in the way the Sikhala case was being handled.
“The law is not as it is written, but the law is as it is
applied. It is important that we understand that Sikhala is still in jail
because he was representing the family of a murdered member of the opposition,”
he said.
“It is the application of the law that determines the
system of the law and when the structure has failed, and when murders of
opposition leaders and tortures and rapes go on a consistent daily, weekly,
monthly basis.”
Amsterdam added that he was going to submit documents to
the international fora to substantiate his claims.
“We will be presenting documents citing specific cases in
respect to this persecution of the political opposition that denies their
rights under international law and the Constitution of Zimbabwe to
international forums in the next 60 days,” he said.
But local lawyer Munya Midzi said Amsterdam should bring
substantive evidence to prove his claims. Newsday
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