OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Sunday 3.00pm.
TWO Zimbabwean journalists who allege they were tortured while in military detention early this year have formally laid civil charges against the police and army.
Editor Mark Chavunduka and reporter Ray Choto, in a report carried in their paper the Sunday Standard, said they had filed their complaints with police chief Augustine Chihuri and expected him to initiate a proper investigation.
The pair, who recently returned from treatment for torture-induced stress at the London Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, have laid charges against police officers for facilitating their alleged torture by releasing them into the hands of the military when they were arrested in January.
“I do now hereby formally lay criminal charges against (the) detectives … that were handling my case and who permitted me to be released from lawful police custody to the illegal detention of the military authorities,” Choto said in his affidavit.
The two are also laying criminal charges over their assault and torture.
Chavunduka, who was first detained by the military for a week before being handed over to the police and then back to the army, is suing the army for wrongful arrest and detention.
During the detention at a military barracks in Harare, Chavunduka’s lawyers sought a high court order for his release, but it was ignored by Defense Secretary Job Whabira.
Chavunduka has formally laid a contempt of court charge against the defence secretary “arising from his contemptuous remarks when being served with the order for my release … and failing to immediately do all in his power to implement the order and procure my release.”
Refusing to carry out the court order in January, Whabira said: “The judge cannot direct us. We will move at our own pace. Any civilian who meddles in military matters is subject to military law.”
Chavunduka and Choto still face trial on charges of causing “alarm and despondency” by reporting an alleged coup plot against President Robert Mugabe.
Their trial opens in August. — AFP
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