SW Radio Africa (London)
Henry Makiwa
8 November 2007
The largest grouping of legal practitioners in the world has condemned the Zimbabwean police force, accusing it of being partisan and severely repressive.
The International Bar Association (IBA) on Wednesday issued out a report that warned that chances of free and fair polls next year, were slim unless measures are taken to depoliticise the country's law enforcement agents.
The report asserts that police routinely commit serious violations of human rights, subvert the rule of law and play a blatantly partisan role.
It follows a visit to Zimbabwe by a high-level delegation of legal experts, citing wide abuses by police that range from torture and arbitrary arrests to disobedience of court orders and beatings and intimidation of lawyers.
IBA spokesperson Andrea Gabriel said the government must take immediate steps to end abuses of police power.
She said: "Leaders across Africa and the SADC region are speaking about the need to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe through democratic elections but the brazen partisanship and lawlessness of the police gives serious concern that police officers will be used to subvert the electoral process.
"To demonstrate this, in recent weeks, several lawyers of government critics and opposition activists have been assaulted or arrested while attempting to attend to their clients. The failure to investigate and prosecute these serious violations of human rights shifts responsibility to the highest levels of government," Gabriel said.
Among the key findings of the report are that most of the victims of police abuses are individuals deemed to be government opponents or critics and that those responsible for abuses have been allowed to benefit from almost absolute impunity.
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