September 28, 1999
His Excellency President Robert Mugabe
Office of the President
Causeway, Harare
Zimbabwe
VIA FAX: 011-263-4-728799/708557
Your Excellency,
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply dismayed that journalists Mark Chavunduka and Ray Choto of the Harare-based Sunday Standardnewspaper are to face trial in Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court on October 4, despite widespread international outrage over their case.
Chavunduka and Choto were arrested and illegally detained on January 12, following a report in their newspaper that soldiers had plotted to remove Your Excellency from power because of alleged economic mismanagement, and because of Zimbabwe’s military involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Both journalists were severely tortured by government agents.
They were charged with publishing false information “likely to cause fear and despondency” under Section 50(2) of the Law and Order Maintenance Act of 1960 – a discredited piece of legislation that Zimbabwe’s pre-independence government used to repress black nationalism.
While the two journalists have challenged the validity of the law under which they have been charged, the Supreme Court has yet to rule on the issue. And the Supreme Court challenge is only one of several court cases filed since the two journalists were arrested. Others include civil and criminal charges against the police and military for wrongful arrest, detention, assault, and torture.
As a non-partisan organization dedicated to the defense of press freedom worldwide, CPJ is appalled by these grave violations of the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, as guaranteed by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and Article 9 of the African Charter of Human and People’s Rights, to all of which, we respectfully remind Your Excellency, Zimbabwe is a signatory.
We strongly urge Your Excellency to ensure that all charges pending against Chavunduka and Choto are immediately and unconditionally dropped, and to launch a thorough and impartial investigation into their brutal treatment at the hands of government agents. Failure to do so would vindicate critics who have openly questioned Your Excellency’s commitment to democratic values.
We sincerely hope that Your Excellency will act decisively to prove, both to the people of Zimbabwe and to the international community, that you are in fact ready to defend fundamental rights and freedoms.
Sincerely,
Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director
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His Excellency President Robert Mugabe
Office of the President
Causeway, Harare
Zimbabwe
VIA FAX: 011-263-4-728299/708557