White Zimbabwean farmers charged with public violence after clashing with pro-government militants might not get a fair trial because their case had been politicised, their lawyer said today.
But the magistrate in charge of the case, noting that the farmers had not yet been asked to plead and the date for the trial had not even been set, said it was premature to say it would not be fair.
Lawyer Mr Jeremy Callow told the magistrate's court that the farmers - who were released on bail on Tuesday after two weeks in jail - had been badly treated by prison officials.
Mr Callow said they had been locked in crowded cells, forced to shave their heads and suffered verbal abuse.
He also alleged that some of the farmers had been wrongly arrested by the police, who he said were under pressure from self-styled liberation war veterans backing President Robert Mugabe's land seizure programme.
Due to the interference of war veterans, members of the ruling (ZANU-PF) party and politicians, serious concern is expressed that the police are in a position of impartially investigating this matter, Mr Callow told the court.
"...There is a real risk that they may not receive a fair trial due to untrue, adverse pretrial publicity and pronouncements made by prominent public figures as to the guilt of the accused," Mr Callow added.
The farmers were arrested on August 6th for allegedly assaulting Mugabe supporters on a white-owned farm occupied by war veterans backed by the government.
Mobs of militants retaliated by burning and looting property in Chinhoyi, 120 kms (75 miles) northwest of Harare.