Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe

A member of the MDC party was ambushed and assaulted during the first week of July 2010 by a mob of ZANU PF youth militia in Muzarabani.

Mr. Kagura was heavily assaulted by a gang of more than eleven men armed with logs. He sustained life threatening head injuries, twisted wrist joints and limbs. Kagura told ROHR Zimbabwe that he only managed to flee when he fired a gun shot from his firearm forcing the marauding mob to disperse.

The   MDC activist, had visited Keba Madya,a member of the ZANU PF party at his home to inquire about a debt owed to him. Madya is said to have insisted on getting witnesses from his political party members since he was under pressure from his party structures for allegedly mixing with pro MDC people.

After spending the entire night in the bush wounded, Kagura was arrested by Muzarabani police. He spent five days and nights in police custody. Despite the fact that he had lost so much blood from a gushing wound on the head, he was denied medical attention by the police.

Kagura told ROHR Zimbabwe that his attempts to demand treatment ended in him being told that his was a special case and that they needed to get permission from their superiors on how he should be treated.

Kagura is agitated by the police behavior which he described as discriminating against those deemed enemies of certain political parties. He further claims that the judiciary procedure presided by judge Chakanyuka was fast-tracked to a predetermined outcome in favor of the aggressors. The judge did not bother to check for a medical report to establish the nature of the injuries sustained by Kagura. Ironically the assailants were vindicated for their act and the victim was slapped with a harsher penalty of imprisonment.

As ROHR Zimbabwe we remain concerned by the role being played by some members of the police force and judiciary in failing to execute their duties professionally to maintain objectivity, fairness, transparency and independence. It is regrettable that institutions of the state remain unreformed and biased at the backdrop of the critical time of transformation to a democratic society. The Global Political Agreement stresses that there should be equal treatment of all people regardless of political affiliation. It is incumbent upon the law enforcement agents to uphold the provisions of the GPA to ensure that human rights are not violated at the whim of political extremism.

Articles 9 and 10 of the Universal declaration of Human Rights (1948) states that ‘no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile” ‘’everyone charged with a crime is entitled equally to fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal.”

For Peace, Justice and Freedom