JUSTICE IN ZIMBABWE 16 ____________________________________________________________________ protection against either disaffected litigants or people who expect them to make “politically correct judgments”, as one lawyer put it. A number of magistrates and prosecutors, however, have shown outstanding courage. There have been numerous instances in which ZANU (PF) militants have attacked or intimidated magistrates or forced their transfer. Some of these incidents are set out below. In August 2001 a large crowd of allegedly ZANU (PF) supporters, demonstrated for three days against a Karoi magistrate after he had granted bail to 106 farm-workers who were charged with public violence for attempting to throw “war veterans” off their farms.17 Also in August 2001, crowds of militants disrupted proceedings at which commercial farmers were being remanded on charges of public violence. This incident is dealt with more fully below in part 5 of Section B of this report, which describes the Chinhoyi farmers’ case. In 2001 over 200 “war veterans” disrupted proceedings at Harare Magistrate’s Court in protest against the further remand in custody of colleagues on kidnapping and extortion charges. In September 2001 after a Bindura magistrate sentenced 17 ZANU (PF) supporters to three years’ imprisonment each for public violence ahead of a by-election in June, it was reported that other party supporters held “an all-night vigil” outside his home and intimidated his wife.18 In November 2001 ZANU (PF) militants assaulted a senior magistrate in Gokwe after he convicted a ruling party supporter on a robbery charge and sent him to jail for eight months. The magistrate, Douglas Chikwekwe, has since fled from his workplace and home. Police officials confirmed the incident, but said investigations were still in progress. They said they had not arrested anyone. The ZANU (PF) supporters were apparently unhappy with Mr Chikwekwe’s decision to convict one of their colleagues for robbery. They called the conviction and sentence a “miscarriage of justice”. The militants descended on Mr Chikwekwe’s home over the weekend, breaking his windows and destroying his furniture. Mr Chikwekwe escaped the attack with minor