Amnesty International has described the clemency order issued by the President on 6 October as unjust and unacceptable.
The order grants total amnesty to every person liable to criminal prosecution, whose guilt or innocence has not been
determined by a court, for any politically motivated crime committed during the period 1 January 2000 to 31 July 2000.
Although the order makes exceptions for some grave crimes, the amnesty protects perpetrators of human rights abuses who
are liable to prosecution for, or are charged with, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm (torture), common
assaults, kidnapping and abductions (involving in at least one case a "disappearance") in connection with the 12 and 13
February referendum and the 24 and 25 June elections.
"There must be a prompt, thorough, impartial and independent investigation of all the serious human rights abuses which
occurred in the period before the elections in Zimbabwe in June this year and those responsible must be brought to
justice, "Amnesty International added.
Amnesty International opposes the granting of pardons, amnesties and similar measures of impunity for crimes under
international law, which prevent the emergence of the truth, the determination of guilt or innocence by a court and
reparations for victims.
"This pardon represents a lost chance for justice and the possibility of breaking the cycle of impunity that has
riddled Zimbabwe. By failing to tackle impunity for gross human rights abuses, the order provides no deterrent either to
continuing human rights abuses or contempt for international human rights law," Amnesty International said.
Zimbabwe has had a disturbing pattern of impunity going back to the Rhodesian government, when Ian Smith was Prime
Minister. Amnesty International calls for a repeal of this clemency order, as it did with respect to the amnesty given
at independence to the officials of Ian Smith's government in the 1970s, and the amnesty for the perpetrators of the
Midlands and Matabeleland atrocities in the 1980s. Amnesty International fears that this amnesty will only fuel new
human rights abuses, like the previous ones have done.
"There can be no true reconciliation or an environment in which human rights can develop, if the truth about the gross
human rights abuses which have occurred in Zimbabwe is not established and those responsible for them fail to be held
accountable,"Amnesty International stressed.
Given that Zimbabwe is preparing for a presidential election in early 2002 this pardon for human rights abuses in an
election campaign is giving the wrong signal.
Amnesty International especially challenges the international community to meet its obligations to end impunity and
bring to justice those responsible for gross human rights abuses by condemning unambiguously this executive order. "The
international community should expressly acknowledge that the amnesty seriously undermines the obligations of Zimbabwe
under international human rights law," Amnesty International said.