Jestina Mukoko v. Attorney General
Key Judgment
Legal Relevance
Keywords: Deprivation of Liberty | Women and Girls
Themes: Characteristics of the Crime | Related Crimes
The Court found that the prolonged periods of solitary confinement to which the victim was subjected constituted inhuman and degrading treatment. It highlighted that solitary confinement in itself does not amount to inhuman treatment, but that it can reach the required threshold dependent on its duration, aim, imposition on a person who has not yet been convicted of an offence, and effects on the individual’s physical and mental well-being.
Judgment Date
March 20, 2012
Country
Judicial Body
Zimbabwe - Supreme Court
Articles violated
Article 15(1) [CZ]
Facts of the Case
Ms. Jestina Mukoko, a journalist and human rights activist, was abducted from her home in December 2008 by a group of people in plain clothes who alleged to be members of the police but did not produce identity cards. Ms. Mukoko was blindfolded and driven to an unknown place, where she was held incommunicado in solitary confinement, threatened, repeatedly interrogated and subjected to violence for more than two weeks. She was then blindfolded, put in a car and brought to a Police Station where she was detained. The police later obtained a warrant authorising a search to be carried out at Ms. Mukoko's house. Ms. Mukoko was later charged with criminal offences based on information extracted from her by interrogation at different times during her secret detention.