Zimbabwe journalists win court case

Ray Choto and Mark Chavunduka were illegally held

The Supreme Court in Zimbabwe has dismissed charges against two journalists accused by the government of publishing false news.

It is high time this piece of legislation was taken off the statute book

Standard Managing Director Clive Wilson

The two journalists of the independent Standard newspaper, editor Mark Chavunduka and chief reporter Ray Choto, were charged with contravening the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act over an article in which they claimed that more than 20 senior army officers had been arrested over a foiled coup plot against President Robert Mugabe.

The article claimed that the coup plotters were against Zimbabwe's involvement in the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo in support of President Laurent Kabila.

The two journalists were illegally detained by state security officials in January 1999 and their case received much international attention after they said that that they had been tortured in detention in an attempt to make them reveal their sources.

Infringement

President Mugabe denied there was a coup plot against his government

Passing judgement on Monday, Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay said the charge of publishing a false report liable to create "alarm and despondency" infringed "the right of freedom of expression" as enshrined in Zimbabwe's 1980 constitution.

They would have faced seven years in prison if convicted.

The court ruled that the charges against them should be dismissed with costs.

The two men were not in court because they are both currently out of Zimbabwe - Mr Chavunduka is on a Fulbright scholarship at Harvard University in the United States, and Mr Choto is in Australia where he is receiving psychological treatment for the after-effects of torture.

The managing director of the Standard, Clive Wilson - who was in court - expressed his delight at the court's ruling.

"This removes this one threat, that if one publishes a false story you're going to be faced with mandatory prison sentence," he said.

"This has been hanging over our heads for 15 months," he added.

Mr Wilson called for the legislation to be scrapped.

"It is high time this piece of legislation was taken off the statute book, particularly as this government said when they first came into power they would remove this hated act, and they have been using it for 20 years," he said.

'Intimidation and fear'

Professor Ekwueme says Zimbabwe is not ready for free and fair elections

In a separate development, a group of international observers say that the atmosphere in Zimbabwe is not conducive for free and fair elections.

A former vice-president of Nigeria, Alex Ekwueme, who is visiting Zimbabwe as leader of an international observer group, has said at a news conference in Harare that political violence and intimidation had created an atmosphere of anxiety and fear.

He said this undermined trust among Zimbabweans in the secrecy of the ballot.

Mr Ekwueme is heading a mission of the US-based National Democratic Institute for International Affairs - a non-governmental group loosely affiliated with the US Democratic Party.

The Zimbabwe High Court is is expected to hear an appeal later on Tuesday from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, calling for an extension of the deadline for filing nominations.