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ZimOnline - Magistrate allows activists to take case to Supreme Court
21st January 2009
HARARE – A magistrate's court has allowed a jailed human rights campaigner and an opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party activist to have their case referred to the Supreme Court.

Magistrate Gloria Takundwa made the ruling on an application to have Broderick Takawira and Audrey Zimbudzana’s case referred to the constitutional court.

"The magistrate has referred Takawira and Zimbudzana’s case to the constitutional court just as we had applied for," said their lawyer Alec Muchadehama.

Takawira, a staffer at a human rights organisation – Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) – and MDC activist Zimbudzana were arguing that their abduction and continued detention violated their constitutional rights and freedom and had asked the magistrate for permission to take their case to the Supreme Court, the country’s highest court that hears constitutional matters.

The two will be back in court on February 3. Muchadehama said they will be advised when the matter will be set down in the Supreme Court.

Takawira and Zimbudzana are part of a group of about 40 human rights defenders and opposition activists accused of attempting to recruit people for military training in neighbouring Botswana to overthrow President Robert Mugabe and his ruling ZANU PF party.

The accused were abducted in November and December from various locations and held incommunicado for weeks. Their lawyers say they were severely tortured by state agents in a bid to force them to admit to the charges of banditry.

Torture and other forms of inhuman punishment are illegal in Zimbabwe.

A former staffer at the state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and now ZPP director, Jestina Mukoko is also facing similar charges as the MDC activists and was last week granted permission to take her case to the Supreme Court.

If convicted the group faces the death penalty. But the MDC and human rights groups say the charges against the activists are part of a well-orchestrated scheme by state agents to persecute human rights defenders and government critics in a bid to scare them from highlighting deepening crisis in Zimbabwe. – ZimOnline

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