By
The Associated Press
HARARE, Zimbabwe - President Robert Mugabe, whose party has been blamed for months of election-related violence, has pardoned offenders for thousands of politically motivated crimes, the Justice Ministry disclosed yesterday.
The ministry said most of those who could have faced prosecution for political crimes committed between Jan. 1 and July 31 of this year would be pardoned. A few offenders had been convicted and imprisoned would be set free, it said.
At least 32 people died and more than 10,000 were left homeless in violence surrounding a February constitutional referendum and June parliamentary elections. Most of the dead were opposition supporters.
The notice issued by the Justice Ministry specified that the amnesty didn't cover murder, robbery, theft, rape, indecent assault, fraud and illegal possession of weapons.
The Legal Resources Foundation said Mugabe had shown "once again, his complete contempt for the rule of law." Through the amnesty, he had condoned assault, violence that caused injury, arson, malicious damage to property, extortion and other offenses committed for political reasons, the independent lawyers' group said.
"It is hard to conceive how the president can possibly claim to be acting in good faith or in the interests of anyone other than his party’s supporters who were and remain the principle authors of the violence," the group said in a statement.
Human Rights Forum, an alliance of human rights groups, said nearly 19,000 people have been victims of political violence in Zimbabwe this year.
The forum said violent acts included beatings, torture, burns, illegal detention, abduction, assault, death threats and destruction of homes and property - most of which were now amnestied.
Human rights groups said their examination of records showed that 88 percent of the perpetrators were supporters of the ruling party - the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front - and 4 percent were police or district officials.
Among victims, 42 percent backed the main opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change, 4 percent supported the ruling party and the political affiliations of 49 percent - mostly farm workers and civilians - were unknown.
Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the opposition party, yesterday accused Mugabe of "setting the mold" for future elections. Tsvangirai expects to challenge Mugabe for the presidency, an election that must be held by early 2002.
"This is encouraging those who committed election violence they can get away with it," Tsvangirai said. "What will stop them (from) again engaging in these actions?"
Much of the violence was triggered by the illegal occupation of 1,700 white-owned farms by ruling party militants and mobs of squatters.
Mugabe has called the occupations a justified protest against land ownership by
the descendants of colonial-era British and South African settlers.
The government has announced a "fast track" program to nationalize 3,000 white-owned farms and distribute the land among landless blacks. It has ignored two court orders to end the occupations.
Yesterday, Tsvangirai went voluntarily to meet senior police officers, party officials said, despite a report in the state-controlled Sunday Mail that police planned to arrest him for treason, "inciting public violence" and sullying Mugabe’s name at a Sept. 30 rally.
At the rally in Harare, Tsvangirai accused Mugabe of destroying the economy and predicted a civil uprising to oust him.
State prosecutors dropped charges yesterday against three opposition lawmakers who had been accused of urging supporters to demonstrate violently against the possible arrest of Tsvangirai, said their attorney, Innocent Chagonda.
In the June elections, the Movement for Democratic Change won 57 of 120 elected seats in parliament, posing the biggest threat to Mugabe's hold on power since he led the country to independence in 1980.
