Magistrate’s arrest sparks fury
23/12/2010 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
MAGISTRATES accused police of “bully tactics” on Thursday following the
arrest of Manicaland’s Provincial Magistrate Billiard Musakwa and a
prosecutor on corruption charges.
The Magistrates’ Association of Zimbabwe called on Police Commissioner
Augustine Chihuri to step in following last weekend’s arrests in Mutare.
Musakwa discharged businessman Farai Rimayi who was facing rape allegations
after prosecutor Truman Joma withdrew the case before trial.
The chief law officer Michael Mugabe filed reasons for dropping the case in
the record of proceedings.
But police moved to arrest the prosecutor and the magistrate on suspicions
of corruption.
The Magistrates’ Association called on Chihuri to “rein-in his officers and
instruct them to exercise restraint and not to approach matters with shut
minds.”
“The police abused their powers and must be dealt with decisively,” the
union said. “The bully tactics exhibited by the police in this case will not
sway magistrates into making uncivilised and injudicious decisions in order
to please anybody.
“Magistrates are not answerable to the police and the belief that police
officers or anybody can question judicial decisions must be exorcised from
police officers’ minds.”
The magistrates added that they would not “surrender the duty imposed upon
us by the laws of this country to administer justice impartially without
fear or favour.