IV. Patterns of harassment against human rights defenders Many human rights defenders interviewed by the mission delegates showed great apprehension and, to some extent, a sense of helplessness. Some of them reported a lack of access to Zimbabwean ordinary citizens, which prevented them from conducting civic education activities aiming at informing them about human rights standards as well as about their own rights. Most of the time, access to the people was made impossible by State security agents. The latter used intimidating tactics and regularly order human rights defenders to report at police stations, with no clear reasons. In some of the cases, it turned out that the officer who had ordered them to report was not present at the station. In such situations, no apology was made to the defenders summoned. Furthermore, cases were reported where human rights defenders were arrested without any meaningful and effective access to legal remedy. It appears that the main perpetrators of the acts of harassment, intimidation and other human rights abuses against human rights defenders were primarily, in particular: – the police, including members of the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO), – ZANU-PF members, including the militias (war veterans and the youth), – some traditional leaders holding a political brief from ZANU-PF, – the Censorship Board, and – Provincial Governors. During the mission, the interlocutors provided detailed reports of serious harassment that had been inflicted on some of the human rights defenders in Zimbabwe. Some shortened accounts of these facts are presented below. 1. Arbitrary arrests and detention The mission observed that arbitrary arrests and detentions of human rights defenders were very common. While, since ZLHR launched its legal emergency response project for human rights defenders in 2003 (see above), not a single human rights defender has been convicted by the authorities, the arrests and detentions, besides their arbitrary character, in fact constitute per se some form of extra-judicial punishment. Case of Mr. Abel Chikomo Mr. Abel Chikomo, Executive Director of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (the Forum), was interrogated and asked to report to the police on several occasions in November 2010, February and March 2011 regarding his activities, and in particular the Forum public campaign against torture, its Transitional Justice National Survey and several press statements issued in 2011 by the organisation on the resurgence of politically-motivated violence. On March 30, 2011, he was formally charged with “managing and controlling the operations of an illegal Private Voluntary Organisation (PVO)”, under Section 6(3) as read with Subsection 1 of the PVO Act. As of October 2012, Mr. Chikomo had not received any notification to appear before a court and remained free. Case of Ms. Cynthia Manjoro Ms. Cynthia Manjoro, ZIMRIGHTS National Programme Manager, has been active for a long time in the field of the protection of human rights and freedoms in Zimbabwe. She is a former student activist who has worked with the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) – Zimbabwe, Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) and Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU). 16 The Observatory ZIMBABWE: Ongoing risks for human rights defenders in the context of political deadlock and pre-electoral period Ms. Manjoro is one of the 29 Glen View residents facing unsubstantiated charges of murdering a police officer in Glenview in 2011. On May 11, 2011, a police officer, Inspector Petros Mutedza, was killed at Glenview 3 shopping centre. The police arrested 25 individuals on suspicion of having killed the officer, including Ms. Cynthia Manjoro and M.P. Madzore. Most of them are members of the MDC. Ms. Manjoro was not on the spot when the police officer died, and the mission delegates interviewed a witness who unequivocally stated that, at that time, she was with Ms. Manjoro at a totally different location, i.e. in Harare, far away from the scene. The only sufficient connection to warrant her arrest by the police was the fact that her vehicle, which she had lent to her brother on that night, was allegedly seen at the scene or the murder. When Ms. Manjoro accompanied her brother to the police station at the Law and Order Section in Harare to recover her car, she was interrogated by the police on her work at ZIMRIGHTS. Police officers also showed her pictures of extra-judicial killings and torture cases that had taken place in Zimbabwe in the run up to, during, and after the elections in 2008. The police officers then released her brother without interrogating him, and put Ms. Manjoro in detention for her alleged involvement in the murder. Once taken into police custody, the investigating officers stated that she had been arrested because of her active involvement in human rights issues. All the questions dealt with her work as a human rights activist, and not with her alleged role in the murder. Ms. Manjoro was kept at the Chikurubi maximum security prison for 59 days, before being granted bail on July 28, 2011. She described her conditions of detention as inhuman and degrading, particularly for a young lady who, at the time of the events, had just delivered a baby. She was held in solitary confinement, kept in leg irons in a dirty smelly cell, filled with lice, without being allowed visits. In addition, the conditions of her release on bail were very strict, as she had to report to the police station at least three times a week (on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays), and, as a consequence, could not work and travel outside of Harare. On March 1, 2012, she was indicted for murder, together with at least 25 other activists, and remanded in custody. She is currently held at Chikurubi Maximum Prison. The bail application for Ms. Cynthia Manjoro and 28 others has been postponed indefinitely after the presiding judge was declared unable to rule, for alleged health reasons. On October 15, 2012, Ms. Manjoro was freed on bail, but the trial was still underway in Harare, and its proceedings were not satisfactory, as the Presiding Judge acted in violation of ordinary fair trial standards. For instance, he admitted what was essentially inadmissible evidence and allowing the prosecution’s witnesses to resort to dock-identification of the accused persons. Dock identification is generally seen as highly inappropriate and prejudicial to the accused persons. Case of Mr. Farai Maguwu Mr. Farai Maguwu is the Executive Director of the Centre for Research and Development (CRD), a research centre dealing with mining issues in Mutare. He was, amongst others, involved in the research and documentation of human rights violations in Marange, where hundreds of people were extra-judicially killed and later buried in mass graves, in late 2008. He became a man to eliminate in the eyes of individuals with economic interests in the diamond sector in the Marange area. Mr. Farai Maguwu was arrested on June 3, 2010 in Mutare on charges of “communicating and publishing falsehoods against the State with the intention to cause prejudice to the security or economic interests of the country” (Section 31 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act), liable to 20 years’ imprisonment. The Observatory ZIMBABWE: Ongoing risks for human rights defenders in the context of political deadlock and pre-electoral period 17