Charges of attempting to obstruct the course of justice have been dropped against Zimbabwe’s justice minister because no magistrate is prepared to hear the case out of fear, it was reported on Wednesday.
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa was facing charges of attempting to influence witnesses in a political-violence case that involved the country’s Security Minister, Didymus Mutasa.
However, all magistrates in the eastern province of Manicaland, where the case was due to be heard, recused themselves from the case because of alleged political intimidation, reports the state-controlled Herald newspaper.
Allegations against Chinamasa are that he and five others tried to influence witnesses who were set to testify in a case of political violence that rocked the eastern district of Makoni in 2004.
The incident pitted supporters of Mutasa — who is also secretary for administration in President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party — against those of a rival from the same party.
Magistrate Loice Mukunyadzi said on Monday neither she nor any of her colleagues was prepared to preside over Chinamasa’s case because Mutasa had accused them of belonging to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the Herald said.
”Mutasa once appeared at this court and he indicated that all magistrates are MDC members,” she was quoted as saying. ”If we convict or discharge, it is because of fear or that we are MDC.
”That is the main reason we are not prepared to hear the matter,” said Mukunyadzi.
The chief magistrate in the province had to be called in from the nearby city of Mutare to hear the matter, and he ordered the charges against the justice minister to be withdrawn, the paper said.
But the trial of the five others charged alongside Chinamasa, including two members of the secret police, went ahead, the Herald said.
In March this year 20 of Mutasa’s supporters were jailed for two years each for political violence. Mutasa himself was not tried. — Sapa