Mercenaries case - To Extradite or not to Extradite: A Matter of Law
40 women activists arrested in Bulawayo
Women arrested, activist shot
Author/source:SW Radio Africa
published:
Fri 18-Jun-2004
Without provocation, one of the policeman, a constable Mufurutsa, allegedly pulled out his gun and shot the 51 year-old MDC ward member and activist in the abdomen
Four activists from Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) who were arrested and detained overnight by the police in Bulawayo have been released without charge. The four, Magodonga Mahlangu, Patricia Khanye, Siphiwe Maseko and Emily Mpofu were arrested together with forty other WOZA women during a meeting at Machobane community Hall in the Western suburbs of the city Wednesday. The other forty were released Wednesday but the remaining four were charged with contravening section 24 of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA). National co-ordinator of WOZA, Jenni Williams said the four appeared in court this afternoon and were released after the state prosecutor conceded that they lacked evidence to convict the activists.
The police in the Rhodesville suburb of Harare have been accused of shooting an MDC activist who was relaxing at home in the garden with some friends last Saturday afternoon. Ringson Mutandagai opened the gate for 2 policemen who had knocked. Without provocation, one of the policeman, a constable Mufurutsa, allegedly pulled out his gun and shot the 51 year-old MDC ward member and activist in the abdomen. Shocked witnesses in the garden phoned an ambulance and report that the police continued talking to their friends about personal matters on their mobile phones while the victim lay there bleeding. The police version is of course very different. They allege that the victim attempted to escape while in police custody for an unspecified incident. The other policemen who were present are not even mentioned in the report. Ringson Mutandagai is now at Parirenyatwa hospital recovering from a very serious operation on his stomach.
40 women activists arrested in Bulawayo
Loughty Dube
POLICE in Bulawayo have arrested 40 members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza) for holding a meeting in the high-density suburb of Matshobane in the city.
Woza spokesperson, Jenni Williams, confirmed the arrest of the 40 women but said they were arrested before the start of the meeting.
"The women were arrested on Wednesday while they were still preparing tea before the start of the meeting at Matshobane Community Hall in the western suburbs," said Williams.
"They were bundled into several trucks before being taken to Western Commonage police station where they were detained."
Some of the women were released later on Wednesday evening and ordered to report back to the police station yesterday while the rest were still detained at the time of going to press.
A police spokesperson confirmed the arrest of the 40 women and said they will be charged with contravening Section 24 of the Public Order and Security Act (Posa) that requires organisers of public gatherings to seek police clearance first.
"The women are being charged under Section 24 of Posa and are expected to appear in court as soon as all the paper work on their case has been done," said the police spokesman.
This is not the first time that police have swooped on the militant women group. Last year police arrested and beat up several women who were congregated to celebrate International Women's day on May 3.
By Zimbabwe Independent staff
To Extradite or not to Extradite: A Matter of Law
By The Daily News staff, Zimbabwe
Date:7-Jun, 2004
On 7 March 69 South African men arrived at Harare airport in a private jet and waited on the runway for a delivery of arms, ostensibly to use guarding a mine in the Congo. But then the plane was stormed by Zimbabwean army troops who arrested the men and charged them with being mercenaries who had plotted to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea.
Another man who was preparing to join the men was also arrested. Since then the 70 men have languished in Harare’s Chikurubi prison as courts in Zimbabwe and South Africa determine their fate.
On 9 March 15 other men, most of them South Africans, were arrested in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, where they were accused of acting as the advance team for the reported coup plot. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe discussed the situation of the 70 alleged mercenaries in a lengthy meeting with the President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who flew to Bulawayo to discuss the case. Mr Mugabe later signed an extradition treaty with Equatorial Guinea and it was reported that he intends to send the 70 men to the West African country in return for supplies of oil from Mr Obiang.
The prisoners were clamped in leg irons and manacles by Zimbabwean authorities fearing a plot to free them from jail. Jail officers also rejected efforts to provide the men with warm clothes and food. The South African wives, children and friends of the men marched in Pretoria, urging the South African government to bring them home for trial. At the head of the motley crew is Britain’s Simon Mann, an Eton educated, former SAS officer who also holds South African citizenship and has been involved in several security operations in Africa.
The colourful case raises several legal questions. The first question is whether they broke any laws in Zimbabwe at all. The men on the plane had not technically entered Zimbabwe as they had not disembarked from their plan or gone through immigration. Whatever plans they made, including the alleged conspiracy against Mr Obiang, were done in South Africa, not in Zimbabwe. South African authorities admit that they found out about the plot while the men were still in South Africa. The South African government tipped off the Zimbabweans about the plot, paving the way for the men to be arrested in Zimbabwe. It is not clear why South African President Thabo Mbeki’s government did not arrest the men while they were still in South Africa where they could be charged under that country’s law regulating the activities of mercenary forces, the Foreign Military Assistance Act.
The wives and families of the men have pleaded with the South African government to bring the men back for trial. When their entreaties met with stony silence from Mr Mbeki’s government they pressed a court case. The Mbeki government said they would fight it in court. The message from Mr Mbeki is clear: any South African suspected of being involved in a mercenary plot will get scant protection from the South African government. In Zimbabwe, Mr Mugabe’s officials first said they would try the men on charges of plotting against the Equatorial Guinean government. But then it became clear that no Zimbabwean law included plots against foreign governments. So the government is preparing to try them for breaking immigration laws, for which they face limited sentences.
No firearms were found on the airplane with the men. Mr Mann and another were trying to purchase the arms from Zimbabwe’s state-owned Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI). Zimbabwean authorities charge the men were trying to illegally purchase arms. But Mr Mann’s defence lawyers argue that they had purchased arms from ZDI before, under similar circumstances, and they say they have receipts to prove it. This may prove to be very embarrassing for Mr Mugabe’s government, because ZDI has stated that it does not sell firearms or landmines. The evidence from Mr Mann would show that the state-owned ZDI is actually trafficking illegally in arms.
The most serious question is whether the Zimbabwean government can legally extradite the men to Equatorial Guinea. Extradition is a legal process and the government would have to apply to the Zimbabwean courts for orders to send the prisoners to Equatorial Guinea. Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea had no extradition treaty when the men were arrested. Most lawyers agree that the treaty, signed two weeks after the arrest of the men, cannot be effective retroactively. Any judge making a decision on the extradition request must take into consideration whether the men will receive a fair trial and humane conditions. These are points of crucial importance because Mr Obiang¹s government in Equatorial Guinea has a reputation as one of the most brutal and least law-abiding in Africa. It is generally believed that if the 70 men are sent to Equatorial Guinea they will be going to their executions.
Already one of the 15 men held in Equatorial Guinea has died in custody and Amnesty International wrote that it has information suggesting he died of injuries from torture.
Several lawyers in Zimbabwe express fears that Mr Mugabe’s government may ignore the points of law at stake in this case. They suggest that one of the many pro-government judges will be appointed to hear the case and will rule whatever way Mr Mugabe desires. Amnesty International has followed the case closely and recently urged Mr Mugabe’s government not to extradite the alleged mercenaries to Equatorial Guinea. ‘The Government of Zimbabwe should not hand over detainees to Equatorial Guinea because of the serious risk of human rights violations,’ said the statement from Amnesty. The human rights organisation said that it has documented for many years the routine use of torture in detention facilities in Equatorial Guinea. Accused persons are also subjected to trial proceedings which routinely fail to meet international standards of fair trial.
In addition it is likely that these detainees will be tried by a military court using summary procedures and from which there is no right of appeal. The organisation believes that Equatorial Guinea’s human rights record should rule out any consideration of extraditing the alleged mercenaries detained in Zimbabwe to that country. Amnesty International has called on the South African government to investigate the grounds for requesting their extradition to South Africa in terms of the Foreign Military Assistance Act and oppose the extradition of any of the South Africans in Zimbabwe to Equatorial Guinea.’ The tale of the suspected mercenaries who got together for one last adventure, either a plot in Equatorial Guinea or a lucrative contract guarding a Congo mine, reads like the script of an adventure movie. But what happens to the men should be decided by the rule of law’.
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