Mugabe loses US court case

Mr Mugabe is barred from entering the United Sates

A US magistrate has ruled that Zimbabwe's ruling party, Zanu-PF, should pay more than $73 million in damages for violence against political opponents in the run-up to the country's June 2000 parliamentary election.

When we have a judgment, we will proceed from there

Bill Bowman, plaintiffs' lawyer

The plaintiffs - all citizens of Zimbabwe - filed the suit in the southern district of New York under a federal law that allows foreign nationals to claim compensation in the United States for injuries suffered in violation of international law.

They claim that Zanu-PF organized a campaign of terror designed to intimidate its political opposition through harassment, physical attacks and the assassination of targeted individuals.

Robert Mugabe was controversially re-elected as president earlier this year.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change again accused Zanu-PF of using violence and the United States and the European Union imposed a travel ban on Mr Mugabe and his closest associates and froze any assets they held abroad.

Torture claims

The Zimbabwean Government has not reacted to the decision but has previously dismissed the legal action as a waste of time. According to US law, a federal trial judge must approve the final figure and the parties in the case have 10 days to file written objections to the magistrate's findings.

In his ruling, magistrate Judge James Francis said he was recommending that Zanu-PF pays $53 million in punitive damages and about $20 million in compensatory damages.

The suit also claimed Zanu-PF members unlawfully seized and destroyed property.

Bill Bowman, one of the plaintiffs' lawyers, would not comment on whether the damages could be collected.

Opposition supporters accused the ruling party of harassment and intimidation

"When we have a judgment, we will proceed from there," Mr Bowman, a Washington DC lawyer with Hogan & Hartson, told Reuters news agency.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was served with court papers while he was attending a UN millennium summit in New York in September 2000.

But he and other Zanu-PF officials failed to appear in court to answer the allegations.

In April, the plaintiffs testified that their family members had been beaten, tortured and killed by Zanu-PF members.

They included Adella Chiminya, whose husband, an activist with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was doused with fuel and burned before the parliamentary election in June 2000.

Elliot Pfebve, who stood as an MDC candidate in the same election, testified that his brother was assassinated by Zanu-PF supporters in a case of mistaken identity.