Leading Zimbabwean human rights activist Jestina Mukoko who shot to fame last year when she was abducted by agents of President Robert Mugabe’s previous government is suing the state for over $200 000 for mistreatment in detention.
Mukoko, head of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, an organisation that documents political violence, was abducted from her home late last year and held at undisclosed locations for three weeks, provoking an international outcry.
She was eventually brought to court in Harare and charged with plotting to topple Mugabe’s government. But the charges were widely discredited and seen as an attempt to stifle criticism of Mugabe.
Last month, the Supreme Court heard Mukoko’s application in which she asked for a permanent stay of prosecution, claiming gross violation of her rights in detention. The court has yet to rule on the application.
The 52-year-old mother says she was denied access to medication and lawyers and was tortured during her detention.
In a claim lodged in the high court last week, Mukoko is suing attorney general Johannes Tomana, a Mugabe loyalist, the ministers of home affairs and defence, and the country’s police and intelligence chiefs for $220 000.
Mukoko accuses Tomana, whom Mugabe reappointed attorney general this year despite protest from the former opposition, now co-governing, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), of failing to meet his constitutional obligation to arrest and prosecute her alleged kidnappers.
Police commissioner Augustine Chihuri, fraud division chief superintendent Peter Magwenzi and Brigadier General Walter Tapfumaneyi from the notorious Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) are also named as respondents in the claim.
Mukoko is also suing former state security minister and current lands minister, Didymus Mutasa, in his personal capacity.
If successful, Mukoko’s claim could lead many other MDC members and human rights defenders detained and tortured in recent years for criticising the government turn to the courts for redress. — Sapa-dpa