Zimbabwe to sue EU
2011-10-02 14:54
Special Report
A classical music presenter for the BBC has been arrested and is in custody in Zimbabwe.
Harare - Zimbabwe says it is preparing legal proceedings against the European Union over the imposition of smart sanctions against President Robert Mugabe and his senior party officials, a state owned newspaper reported on Sunday.
The Sunday Mail said Johannes Tomana, Zimbabwe's chief lawyer had "assembled a team of the country's best legal minds to file papers against the [EU] bloc."
"Of course, we are going to sue. We wrote to them and we want them to justify the continued imposition of illegal sanctions on us," Tomana is quoted by the weekly.
Early September, Tomana gave a two-week ultimatum to Brussels to explain why it had imposed travel restrictions on Mugabe and some senior Zanu-PF officials or face a lawsuit at the General Court of the European Court of Justice.
During his visit to Zimbabwe in September, the EU's chief diplomat for Africa Nicholas Westcott told journalists in Zimbabwe that the European bloc was ready for the legal battle with Harare.
The EU imposed smart sanctions on Mugabe and his loyalists in 2002 following reports of elections rigging and human rights abuses by Zanu-PF.
There are 163 Zimbabweans on the EU sanctions list. Mugabe has argued that the travel restrictions and sanctions were harming Zimbabwe's economy.
- SAPA