Fergie Blackie, the retired judge arrested in Zimbabwe last year for allegedly attempting to ‘defeat the course of justice’, is facing trial at the end of this month.
Judge Blackie’s trial is set for 30 June in the Harare Magistrates’ Court.
The state is likely to call three other judges as witnesses. The UN has already condemned the Mugabe regime for stating that it would call judges as witnesses in the similar case of Mr Justice Paradza, a Zimbabwean judge arrested for allegedly breaching the Prevention of Corruption Act in January this year.
The International Bar Association has expressed outrage at the Zimbabwean practice of arresting disfavoured judges, which it sees as an attempt by Mugabe to destroy the independence of the judiciary.
“We maintain that there is very little substance to these charges and that the trial has been brought as an attempt to embarrass Justice Blackie,” said Judge Blackie’s advocate Firoz Girach.
Last June, the Mugabe regime arrested Sternford Moyo and Wilbert Mapombere, respectively the president and executive secretary of the Zimbabwe Law Society, for allegedly possessing subversive documents.
Worldcom general counsel resigns
Worldcom general counsel Michael Salsbury has resigned together with treasurer Susan Mayer, a day after reports revealed further details of the accounting scandals that have bankrupted the telecoms company. The reports, which were compiled for the bankruptcy court and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), excused the legal chief of any financial wrongdoing but […]
