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Zimbabwean President Grants Amnesty for Political Crimes
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has declared a general amnesty for some politically motivated crimes committed from January 31 to July 31 this year, The Herald newspaper reported Wednesday.
According to an extraordinary government gazette dated October 6, the president issued the clemency Order Number One of 2000 pardoning all people involved in political violence in the run-up to the February referendum on the draft constitution and in the period before and after the June parliamentary elections.
More than 30 people died in clashes between the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-pf) and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the run-up to the elections and in skirmishes over the land issue between war veterans and villagers and commercial farmers and their workers.
Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Patrick Chinamasa was quoted as saying in an interview on Tuesday that the amnesty covers everyone regardless of their political affiliation.
"This means a free pardon is given to all cases for supporters of both Zanu-pf and MDC and any other political party who committed politically motivated violence in the specified period," he said.
"But the amnesty does not cover cases of murder, robbery, theft, fraud, dishonesty, statutory rape, possession of arms and indecent assault," the minister explained.
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