US embassy cable - 03HARARE361

UNCLAS HARARE 000361 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER 
LONDON FOR CGURNEY 
PARIS FOR CNEARY 
NAIROBI FOR TPFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PINR, ZI 
SUBJECT:  ARREST OF HIGH COURT JUDGE 
 
REF: HARARE 77 
 
1.  Police arrested High Court Judge Benjamin Paradza on 
February 16 in his chambers.   They allege that Paradza 
contacted three fellow judges of the High Court in an 
effort to influence them to release a passport belonging to 
his business partner and friend Russell Wayne Luschagne, 
who is facing murder charges. Paradza has been charged with 
attempting to defeat the course of justice or, 
alternatively, trying to contravene the Prevention of 
Corruption Act.   After spending a night in jail, he was 
released on Z$20 000 (U.S.$14) bail and asked to surrender 
his passport. 
 
2.  Jonathan Samkange, Paradza's lawyer, denied the charges 
in a conversation with us.  According to Samkange, Paradza 
claims that Luschagne is not his business partner and that 
he had only urged his fellow Judges to schedule a trial 
date for Luschagne, whose murder trial has been pending for 
two years.  Samkange believes the government is trying to 
humiliate the  judge for ordering the mid-January release 
without charge of Harare Mayor Elias Mudzuri.  As reported 
reftel, Mudzuri spent two nights in jail for trying to meet 
with his constituents without having sought police 
permission.  Samkange reported that, two days after his 
ruling in the Mudzuri case, Paradza was visited by two 
Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) agents, who told 
him the Government was unhappy with his decision and 
intended to "embarrass him".  In addition, Paradza received 
a number of threatening calls in the aftermath of his 
Mudzuri judgment. 
3.  Paradza's arrest elicited strong condemnations 
from members of the legal fraternity.  In a public 
statement, the Legal Resources Foundation criticized 
the arrest and overnight detention as "unwarranted and 
high-handed" and maintained that an "internal inquiry" 
by the High Court Judge President should have been the 
first step in the process before criminal charges were 
brought.  "The unseemly haste with which the Judge was 
arrested and detained is an affront to the dignity of 
the Office of Judge and creates in the minds of the 
public an unfortunate impression that Mr Justice 
Paradza is being harassed for making judicial 
pronouncements that have not been favorable to the 
authorities."  The President of the Law Society of 
Zimbabwe, Sternford Moyo, agreed with the LRF 
assessment, telling us that precedent would dictate 
that an internal inquiry should have been conducted 
first.  If evidence of wrongdoing were found, then , 
the Constitution provides the parameters for 
establishment of a tribunal to examine charges of 
judicial misconduct.  Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human 
Rights also condemned the arrest and called for the 
Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs 
"to carry out his legal duty to protect the integrity 
of the courts."  Param Cumaraswamy, UN Special 
Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, 
criticized the humiliating treatment of Paradza in 
public remarks, saying it was "tantamount to 
intimidation of the gravest kind.  This leaves a 
chilling effect on the independence of the judiciary." 
Comment 
------- 
 
4.  The details of what crime Paradza is alleged to have 
committed are still fuzzy.  It is possible he might have 
acted inappropriately.  His arrest and detention by police, 
along with that of fellow High Court Judge Fergus Blackie 
last year, are unprecedented and suggest a new willingness 
by the Government of Zimbabwe to intimidate judges openly 
in order to ensure favorable judgments.  In the only other 
two cases in recent memory in which High Court judges were 
accused of misconduct, special tribunals were established 
to investigate the charges.  Neither judge was arrested in 
the meantime, and both continued to hear cases during the 
investigation.   Although the state-controlled media 
insisted that Paradza's arrest was not politically 
motivated, the visit he received from the CIO agents and 
the threatening calls suggest otherwise.  It appears as 
though the Government was strongly displeased by his ruling 
in the Mudzuri case and was determined to teach him a 
lesson.  That lesson likely will not be lost on Paddington 
Garwe, the judge presiding over the Morgan Tsvangirai 
treason case, and other colleagues on the bench. 
 
SULLIVAN