OWN CORRESPONDENT and REUTERS, Harare | Monday
RELATIVES of three people killed and one who was allegedly assaulted in the run-up to Zimbabwe’s elections have filed a $400m lawsuit against President Robert Mugabe in the United States.
The lawsuit accusing Mugabe of human rights abuses was filed in US District Court in Manhattan on behalf of the victims of what it called Mugabe’s orchestrated political violence.
Human rights activist Topper Whitehead said his clients had to resort to the action because of the “breakdown of law and order in our country and the inaction of the police in bringing known criminals and murderers to book.”
Mugabe was served with the lawsuit while attending this week’s UN Millennium summit in New York, Whitehead said.
The suit was filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789, which gives foreigners the right to file civil suits in US courts for injuries suffered in violation of international law.
Zimbabwe’s Information and Publicity Minister Jonathan Moyo has denied that any lawsuit had been served on Mugabe.
“We did not see any document of that kind. This is the imagination of some people. Nothing of that kind happened,” Moyo said on state television.
Whitehead said lawyers for Maria Stevens, Elliot Pfebve, Adella Chiminya and Evelyn Masaiti hoped to broaden the suit into a class action on behalf of the families of at least 28 others, mainly supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, killed during a violent campaign.
“The same level of violence that was perpetuated against opponents during and after the elections could still resurface but we are prepared for any eventuality for the purpose of justice,” said Pfebve, an MDC official who lost his brother.
Stevens’ husband David was the first white farmer killed by self-styled war veterans and ZANU-PF supporters, who have staged often-violent invasions of white farms since February with Mugabe’s support.
Chiminya’s husband Tendai, a driver for MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai, was burnt to death during a campaign assignment.