ACHPR
African Commission on
Human and Peppiest Righ~s
Human Rights our
Collective Responsibility
I
from May 2000 to January 2005, the vic~imjendured a relentless barrage of
attacks from agents in the direct or ihdirject employ of the Respondent
State. They submit that these abuses were both physical and verbal attacks
on the Victim, which resulted in: the death of two employees, a
miscarriage suffered by the Victim's wife while she was held hostage
during one of the attacks, the rape 0f two female employees and the
physical assault and illegal detentiorl of the Victim's employees, who
subsequently fled from their home on His estate.
83. The Complainant submits that the vicLm Was imprisoned for 12 months
with hard labour at a maximum security prison 9 . ]?1l,l,'iousconviction of
contempt of Parliament, and to date dontinu~'~0 i\P~.tl~B
fear for his life
should he return to Zimbabwe. The C6mplafit~~~!~,ther~~~recontends that
the fail~re or unwillingness. by the Resk9:p:d~!ltSf~$~~!~.~!fl~2~~~~.~~~:,,;;ictim
from mistreatment can be directly ascribed-to, the fact~that Re~lS:I).J?F)!only
a
supporter of the main oppositiop-:~plarty, but. also '\~,)'White man and
therefore a victim of State sancti rl~d r1cifal~distq;iminatioitji~'~ntrary.to the
African Charter.
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84. The Complainant
refer,s2J~~(~heCo~h~.~ion' s \le"cis.ton in Malawi African
Association, Amnesty Irlterii4~i,fp;tal'lyJs~l:sq~.Diop >~.:UnionInterafricaine des
Droits de l'Homme ·}md>'1).AD~EX1f!lJi"·Colledi}.itt~~LrNeuves
et Ayants-droit and
Association Mauriianiennedee D~gi!t.~:4erl'HornP¥~'v Mauritania, where it held
that:34
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Article 2 of th~:(:;harter lays down a ~i~~I'6ie that is essential to the spirit of this
convention; one~9f:tf0se goals is the.elinahation of all forms of discrimination and to
ellsure equality ariloilg all human beings,
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85. The qJ?:1F.~.~!.R~~tsubtr\it~::;that th same 0_bjective un~erpin~. the
DeclaratIp,n o'fCi~lgl:~~,of
Persons Belongmg to National or Ethnic, Religious
and Ling4Jsgs:>Mirl'Qpitt~sadopted by the United Nations in Resolution
47/135. Tffey' contendthat
Article 1 of the declaration stipulates the
obligation o£~'.fl;
State to protect the existence of national or ethnic, cultural,
religious and\;;i'~iii.guisticidentity of ±runorities within their respective
territories.
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86. The Complainant
submits that the Respondent State has disregarded this
obligation, as the Victim was subjected to racial discriminatory abuses by
State functionaries including the highJst authority being the President of