Published by the government of Zimbabwe
21 April 2007
Harare — GLEN View MP Paul Madzore and 12 other suspected terror bombers, who are facing fresh charges of undergoing terrorism training in South Africa to overthrow the Government, yesterday applied for refusal of remand and have their case referred to the Supreme Court.
Harare provincial magistrate Mr Lazarus Murendo remanded the 13 in custody to next week Thursday for ruling.
The men, who were initially remanded in prison for allegedly petrol-bombing three police stations, a train and Zanu-PF district offices in Mbare, are now facing new charges of undergoing paramilitary training as insurgents, bandits, saboteurs or terrorists before causing a spate of bombings countrywide.
In his two-pronged application, defence lawyer Mr Alec Muchadehama, assisted by Mr Andrew Makoni and Mr Tafadzwa Mugabe, submitted that there was no reasonable suspicion that the 13 committed an offence.
He claimed that the State relied on the evidence of one Peter Chindodana and one John Zhuwawo, who do not exist. The defence also argued that two of the suspects, Phillip Mabika and Ishmael Kauzani, were tortured by the police and forced to sign affidavits implicating the others.
"Zhuwawo and Chindodana, who purportedly gave statements implicating the 13 as graduates from the training centre in Orange Free State and Pretoria, are non-existent according to us and we challenge the State to bring those figures to court together with their birth certificates, photos and a confirmation from the Registrar General to ascertain their identity.
"These characters are dummies and the accused persons should not be placed on remand on such false and trumped-up evidence," said Mr Muchadehama.
He further averred that the "purported" statements were riddled with inconsistencies.
Mr Muchadehama told the court that Chindodana is the key witness in all the petrol-bombing cases and that his signatures and identity particulars differed from record to record.
The court further heard that the arrest and detention of the 13 was unlawful and that the new charges were just a duplication of the initial charges.
But prosecutor Mr Austin Muzivi argued that there was reasonable suspicion that the 13 committed the offence and that the initial charges and the current ones were different.
He said Mr Muchadehama's application was unclear.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 The Herald. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
