Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Amnesty International speak out on Roy Bennet

Peter | 17.06.2005 14:23

Continued detention of Roy Bennet is a gross injustice
Amnesty International today expressed its very great concern at the continued detention of Roy Bennet, the opposition Member of Parliament (MP) for Chimanimani




Roy Bennet was given a 15-month jail term with hard labour following an incident on 18 May 2004 when he pushed the Minister for Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to the floor during a heated debate in parliament. Amnesty International does not condone Roy Bennet’s actions, but has severely criticised the parliamentary procedures used to convict and sentence Mr. Bennet.

"The procedure used to convict Mr Bennet was biased and politically motivated while his detention is grossly disproportionate to the offence committed," said Kolawole Olaniyan, Director of Amnesty International’s Africa Programme. "The government must redress this miscarriage of justice as a matter of urgency."

Legal experts in Zimbabwe have pointed out that common assault, the offence with which Roy Bennet would most likely have been charged had the matter been brought before a criminal court, would attract a far less severe sentence. In many such cases only a fine is imposed. Even if a more serious assault charge were brought against Roy Bennet it would not have attracted such a severe penalty.

Amnesty International today repeated its call for Roy Bennet’s immediate release on bail pending either a review of his conviction and sentence by an independent and impartial court, or a trial before an independent and impartial court.

Background
In December 2004 Amnesty International communicated to the government of Zimbabwe the organisation’s serious concern about the proceedings which led to the conviction and sentence of Roy Bennet. The Minister for Justice is alleged to have verbally abused Roy Bennet.

Under Zimbabwe’s Privileges, Immunities and Powers of Parliament Act (as amended 1991), parliament is empowered to sit as a court and to award and execute punishments for specific offences which are listed under the Act. Assaulting a Member of Parliament within the precincts of parliament is one such offence. In the case of Roy Bennet, parliament tasked a five-person parliamentary committee, known as the ‘Privileges Committee’, to review the conduct of Roy Bennet and make a recommendation to parliament in terms of the powers vested in parliament under the Act.

The committee recommended a sentence of 15 months’ imprisonment with hard labour, with three months to be suspended, subject to good behaviour. On 28 October parliament voted to accept the committee’s recommendation. In both the committee and parliament voting was split along party lines. Under the Privileges, Immunities and Powers of Parliament Act there is no provision or mechanism for appeal against sentences passed by parliament. Roy Bennet was taken into custody on 28 October, and is now detained at Mutoko prison.

For further information see Zimbabwe: Unfair trial of Roy Bennet, MP, 24 December 2004, at:  http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engafr460422004

Amnesty International has repeatedly expressed its concern over the treatment of opposition parliamentarians in Zimbabwe, including unfair prosecutions, arbitrary detention and assault.

For further information see:
Zimbabwe: The unfair prosecution of parliamentarians Fletcher Dulini Ncube, Moses Mzila Ndlovu and sixteen others, January 2002, at:  http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engafr460052002
Zimbabwe: Fear for safety /Health Concern/ Conditions of detention, February 2002, at:  http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engafr460082002
Zimbabwe: Rights under siege: Torture in police custody of opposition MP Job Sikhala, May 2003, at:  http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engafr460172003

Peter

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech