Mugabe subverting legal system to retain power lawyers
Publish date: 10 December 2004
Issue Number: 1236
Diary: Legalbrief Today
Category: Corruption
The Zimbabwe Government is subverting the country\'s legal system in order to stay in power, according to an international group of lawyers who recently visited the country. Stephen Irwin, chairperson of the Bar of England and Wales, says the group found that judges and the courts have been profoundly compromised.
We have concluded that the Zimbabwean justice system has ceased to be independent and impartial, the report said. None of the petitions of electorates regarding alleged electoral abuse in the 2004 parliamentary elections have been brought to conclusion, Irwin told the Mail & Guardian Online. That means that Zimbabwe will choose a new Parliament in March without knowing whether all aspects of the previous elections have been conducted lawfully, he added. Full Mail & Guardian Online report
