MDC MP Sues ZRP Over Miscarriage, Demands US$80 000 In Damages
MDC legislator Joanna Mamombe has sued the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) for US$120 000 after suffering a miscarriage which she claims resulted from her unlawful arrest and detention.
The 26-year-old Harare West MP was summoned to the ZRP’s Law and Order section on May 23 this year while she was attending the MDC congress in Gweru.
On the 28th of May, she presented herself in the company of her lawyer, Obey Shava at the Harare Central Police station and was detained in police cells.
In a letter to Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga and copied to Home Affairs deputy secretary (finance and administration) and civil division of the Attorney-General’s Office, Shava said that his client’s arrest was barbaric and deplorable, directly resulting in her in losing her unborn child as she was two months pregnant. Said Shava:
We contend that the conduct of the police amounts to gross violation of our client’s right to personal liberty and dignity.
It is further a gross violation of the unborn baby’s right to life as enshrined in the Zimbabwe Constitution and various international treaties on human rights.
Of the US$120 000, US$40 000 is for pain and suffering, deprivation of personal liberty, violation of human dignity and contumelia, while the US$80 000 is for gross violation of the unborn child’s right to life.
