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WASHINGTON - The Zimbabwean government has systematically ensured that those responsible for torture, abductions and political killings were never brought to justice, human rights watchdog Amnesty International said in a new report, ÔThe Toll of ImpunityÕ, released on Monday.

"Impunity has become the central problem in Zimbabwe where state and non-state actors commit widespread human rights violations without being brought to justice. Unless the cycle of impunity can be broken, human rights abuses will continue unchecked and victims and their families will not see justice," the report said.

This pattern emerged during the June 2000 Parliamentary elections and has continued in 2000, in 2001 and during the March 2002 presidential election.

President Robert Mugabe has used the presidential power of amnesty several times to excuse politically motivated human rights violations, the report said.

"After the 1995 presidential elections, a presidential amnesty was declared to shield from justice those who carried out politically-motivated beatings, burning of homes and intimidation perpetrated by supporters of Zanu-PF during the elections.

"More recently, a presidential amnesty issued on 6 October 2000 granted immunity for politically motivated crimes committed during the period 1 January 2000 to 31 July 2000. Although the order made exceptions for some grave crimes, it protected perpetrators of human rights abuses by exempting from prosecution those alleged to have committed acts including grievous bodily harm (torture), common assaults, kidnapping and abductions."

Aside from presidential amnesties, clemencies and indemnities, Zimbabwean authorities had also used other techniques to cover up state involvement in political violence and to prevent government supporters who committed human rights violations from being brought to justice.

These included using state-sponsored "militia" to obscure state agents being identified as human rights violators" preventing human rights activists and the independent media from investigating and publishing accounts of violations" politically manipulating the police and undermining the judicial system by eroding the independence of the judiciary.

This week marked the second anniversary of the "disappearance" of Patrick Nabanyama, a polling agent for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the June 2000 Parliamentary elections. Witnesses said he was abducted by a group of "war veterans", supporters of the ruling Zanu-PF.

The 10 "war veterans" were acquitted of his murder on the grounds of lack of evidence.

The report called on the Zimbabwean authorities to bring an end to human rights violations and to bring those responsible to justice.

It recommended in the longer term that the authorities in Zimbabwe should repeal or amend laws that violate human rights and take steps to ratify the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

The government should also invite the United Nations Special Rapporteurs on torture and on the independence of judges and lawyers, to investigate matters falling within their mandates in Zimbabwe.

Member states of the Southern Africa Development Community and the international community should bring pressure to bear on the Zimbabwean government to restore justice and the rule of law. - Nampa-Sapa

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