STELLA MAPENZAUSWA and OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Wednesday
ZIMBABWE President Robert Mugabe has been slammed by Britain and opposition party leaders for granting a blanket amnesty to anyone guilty of crimes in the run-up to the country’s elections earlier this year.
Speaking after being questioned and released by police for allegedly treasonous statements, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai said the clemency was an indication that ”we are going deeper and deeper into undermining the rule of law in this country.”
”The people who are going to be covered by that clemency are ZANU-PF thugs. He is giving a blanket amnesty to his supporters,” Tsvangirai added.
The British Foreign Office and the Legal Resources Foundation (LRF), a Zimbabwean legal aid group, echoed his sentiments, saying that to compound the effect political violence had on the election result with an amnesty for those guilty of clearly documented crimes demonstrated ”complete contempt for the rule of law”.
The pardon was granted to ”every person liable to criminal prosecution for any politically-motivated crime committed during the period 1st January 2000 to 31st July 2000,” according to the clemency order.
The amnesty does not apply to murder, rape and theft. But legal experts said it would pardon such crimes as assault, arson, public violence and extortion.
At least 31 people, mostly supporters of the opposition MDC, were killed during political violence in the run-up to the June 24-25 elections.
The dead included four farmers whose properties were invaded since February by self-styled liberation war veterans enjoying Mugabe’s support, who unleashed a campaign of violence against the farmers and their labourers.
Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party won narrowly, but lost the virtual monopoly it had held since independence in 1980.
The government and ZANU-PF have denied responsibility for the unrest, and accused the MDC of attacking its supporters. – Reuters