[legal-professionals] Zimbabwe: The arrest of another judge is a cause for grave concern, says UN rights expert

UNITED NATIONS
Press Release
19 February 2003

The UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Mr. 
Dato' Param Cumaraswamy, has expressed his grave concern over the arrest 
and detention of Justice Benjamin Paradza, a Zimbabwean judge charged with 
an alleged obstruction of justice.

On the morning of 17 February 2003, Justice Paradza was arrested in his 
chambers and detained overnight, the Special Rapporteur has learnt. The 
judge was then brought before court on the morning of 18 February 2003 and 
released on bail. Mr. Cumaraswamy believes that Justice Paradza had 
previously handed down decisions that were unpalatable to the Zimbabwean 
Government. The Special Rapporteur has also learnt that in January 2003, 
soon after Justice Paradza delivered his judgment on the Harare Mayor Elias 
Mudzuri case, ordering his release, the judge was intimidated and 
threatened with reprisal action by police intelligence officers.

The Government is reported to have alleged that Justice Paradza attempted 
to influence a fellow judge in a case involving an application for the 
release of a passport of an accused in a murder trial.

Only last September 2002, retired Judge Blackie was arrested and detained 
in humiliating circumstances and subsequently charged for obstructing the 
course of justice. Prior to his retirement, Judge Blackie convicted and 
sentenced the Minister of Justice to three months imprisonment for contempt 
of court. The Government alleged Judge Blackie delivered a judgment 
quashing an appeal of a jail term imposed on a white woman without 
concurring with the other judge who sat on the appeal with him.

The Special Rapporteur, in a press release of 24 September 2002, expressed 
his outrage over that arrest, detention and charge.

"What is common and very conspicuous about the alleged charges against 
Justice Paradza and retired Judge Blackie is that the principle witnesses 
to prove the alleged charges would be fellow judges. This is pitting judge 
against judge and setting the members of the judiciary on a collision 
course between what will be seen as the independents and the compliants. 
While judges are not above the law, subjecting them to arrest and detention 
in such humiliating circumstances is tantamount to intimidation of the 
gravest kind. This leaves a chilling effect on the independence of the 
judiciary," Mr. Cumaraswamy said.

This latest development is but one in a series of institutional and 
personal attacks on the judiciary and its independent judges over the past 
two years, which have resulted in the resignations of several senior judges 
and which have left Zimbabwe's rule of law in tatters.

"When judges can be set against one another, then intimidated with arrest, 
detention and criminal prosecution there is no hope for the rule of law 
which is the cornerstone of democracy. It paves the way for governmental 
lawlessness," said the Special Rapporteur.


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