Zim activist claims cop torture
2008-12-30 22:16
Special Report
A classical music presenter for the BBC has been arrested and is in custody in Zimbabwe.
Harare - Incarcerated Zimbabwean human rights activist Jestina Mukuko charged on Tuesday that she had been subjected to abuse while in detention after her early December arrest.
In papers filed to the High Court demanding an end to criminal proceedings against her on charges of plotting to topple President Robert Mugabe's government, Mukoko said she had been blindfolded during her detention, had been beaten, and had not received medication for more than 10 days.
Mukoko was seized early on the morning of December 3 from her home in Norton, some 40 kilometres south-west of Harare. In the court papers, she demanded that the people who abducted her should be prosecuted.
"The police and the attorney-general cannot rely on the unlawful kidnapping to have me in their custody," Mukoko said. "I am a victim of kidnapping. The police are obliged to arrest the kidnappers. My kidnappers are still running free."
Her case was set to be heard by a High Court Judge Alpheus Chitakunya on Wednesday. On the same day, a magistrate court is to rule on the legality of the detention of Mukoko and 31 other activists.
Police ignored court order
Some of the activists were abducted in October and were only brought to court last Wednesday, despite several court orders asking for their release or that they appear in court.
Last Wednesday, a High Court judge ordered Mukoko and the other 31 detainees to be released but police ignored the order. Defence lawyers have filed a contempt of court lawsuit against the police.
Mukoko, 54, is the head of the group called Zimbabwe Peace Project.
"I was blindfolded every time I went to be driven from one place. I was blindfolded at times to avoid indentifying the places including when I was handed over to the police (on 24 December)," Mukoko, a former newscaster, said.
"I was tortured. At first I was assaulted under my feet with a rubber-like object while seated on the floor," she said. "Later I was asked to raise my feet on a table and the other people in the room started to assault me ... and that lasted at least five minutes.
"They took a break and then continued with the beatings after a few hours. They were all visibly drunk and some had bottles of liquor," Mukoko added.
She says the assaults started after she had denied training or recruiting for banditry and also had denied working with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
At another point in the questioning, one of the interrogators left the room, only to return shortly afterwards with gravel which he spread on the floor.
Denied medication
She was then ordered "to pull up my clothes and kneel on the gravel. The interrogation continued while on the gravel."
She was denied medication for the first 10 days, and asked for medicines for her allergies which were getting worse. A person identified as a Dr Chigumira examined her and was shocked by what he saw, "and later I was given medication".
In the wake of Mukoko's abduction, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has threatened to pull out of the power-sharing deal he signed in September unless the activist and other detainees were released by the end of the year.
The power-sharing deal which will keep Mugabe as the president while Tsvangirai becomes prime minister follows a hotly disputed presidential run-off in June which was marred by more than 200 deaths mainly targeting the opposition supporters. - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA