WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2001-08-29 Time: 03:41:15 Posted By: Jan
24/08/2001
White Zimbabwean farmers charged with public violence after clashing with
pro-government militants might not get a fair trial because their case had
been politicised, their lawyer said.
However, the magistrate in charge of the case, noting that the farmers had
not yet been asked to plead and the date for the trial had not even been set,
said it was premature to say it would not be fair.
Lawyer Jeremy Callow told the magistrate’s court that the farmers, who were
released on bail on Tuesday after two weeks in jail, had been badly treated
by prison officials.
Callow said they had been locked in crowded cells, forced to shave their
heads and suffered verbal abuse. He also alleged that some of the farmers had
been wrongly arrested by the police, who he said were under pressure from
self-styled liberation war veterans backing President Robert Mugabe’s land
seizure programme.
“Due to the interference of war veterans, members of the ruling (Zanu-PF)
party and politicians, serious concern is expressed that the police are in a
position of impartially investigating this matter,” Callow told the court.
“There is a real risk that they may not receive a fair trial due to untrue,
adverse pre-trial publicity and pronouncements made by prominent public
figures as to the guilt of the accused,” Callow added.
The farmers were arrested on August 6 for allegedly assaulting Mugabe
supporters on a white-owned farm occupied by war veterans backed by the
government. Mobs of militants retaliated by burning and looting property in
Chinhoyi, 120km northwest of Harare.
Magistrate Augustine Murerwe said it was too early for Callow to suggest the
farmers would not get a fair trial. The farmers, who were driven to and from
the court by police without incident, were not asked to plead. They are to
appear in court again on September 28. No trial date has been set. – Reuters