Share & more
The Zimbabwean Supreme Court has cleared the way for President Robert Mugabe's office to be sued in an attempt to force it to make public the results of an inquiry into the deaths of government opponents in the 1980's, news reports said on Tuesday.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and the Legal Resource foundation want the court to order Mugabe's office to release the reports of two commissions of inquiry into events in Matabeleland in western Zimbabwe, where it is estimated that up to 20,000 people were killed allegedly by government
troops.
Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay ruled that "no immunity was accorded to the office of the president" and that Mugabe could be sued in his official capacity as president. He gave Mugabe's office 20 days in which to challenge demands that it publish the reports.
In 1981 and 1983, Mugabe ordered judges to investigate fighting between his security forces and former guerrillas of the late Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU). The fighting ended after Mugabe signed a pact with Nkomo and made him vice-president.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions