Folks,

They think they can BRUTALIZE their people, TERRORIZE them, VIOLATE their human
rights, PLUNDER their wealth and then WRAP themselves up in "anti-slavery,"
"anti-colonialism" or "anti-imperialism" garb to inoculate themselves against
their grotesque misdeeds.

Sure, slavery and colonialism were at once invidious and pernicious but the
clothes of the DESPOTS are wearing thing. One day, they will have to answer in a
COURT OF LAW what the VICTIMS of their insidious repression have got to do with
Western slavery or imperialism.

Please read  and save it for your archives for future reference.

********************

http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38199-2000Sep8.html
<http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38199-2000Sep8.html>

Mugabe Sued in N.Y. Over Rights Abuses

By Bill Miller
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 9, 2000; Page A03

Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe who was in New York this week for a
U.N.
summit of world leaders, was served with a civil lawsuit Thursday accusing him
and
two associates of human rights abuses against political enemies.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, alleges that Mugabe has
orchestrated a campaign of violence to keep his political party, the Zimbabwe
African National Union-Patriot Front, in power. The plaintiffs include relatives
of three people who were slain and a political opponent who claims she was
beaten.

"All my clients are looking for is basic justice," said Theodore M. Cooperstein,
who hopes to turn the suit into a class action. The conduct by Mugabe and his
supporters, Cooperstein said, "violates all international and domestic norms."

Facing his strongest political challenge in 20 years of leadership, Mugabe's
government has encouraged the expropriation of hundreds of white-owned farms
this
year. At least 31 people were killed in the lead-up to parliamentary elections
in
June. Human rights groups have blamed Mugabe's supporters for much of the
bloodshed, alleging they were determined to quash support for the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change.

The lawsuit was filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act, a 211-year-old U.S. law
originally meant to combat piracy. The act gives foreigners the right to file
civil suits in U.S. courts for injuries suffered in violation of international
law.

Last month, a jury in New York ordered Bosnian Serb leader Radovan  Karadzic to
pay $745 million to a group of women who accused him of killings and other
atrocities.

The suit against Mugabe seeks nearly $400 million in damages, though plaintiffs
in
the past have had great difficulty collecting judgments in such cases.

Mugabe was the second international leader to be served with court papers while
in
New York. Another group of plaintiffs filed a similar suit against former
Chinese
premier Li Peng, alleging that he was responsible for the crushing of
pro-democracy demonstrations at Tiananmen Square in 1989, as well as other
violations of human rights. Peng's security guards were served with that suit on
Aug. 31 in a hotel garage.

By locating Mugabe in New York, the plaintiffs overcame one of the biggest
hurdles
in pursuing a human rights case under the Alien Tort Claims Act. Courts
typically
have held that defendants must be served with such lawsuits while in the United
States. The plaintiffs' attorneys got a court order on Wednesday clearing the
way
for the Secret Service to hand Mugabe a copy of the lawsuit during his New York
stay.

But the U.S. government objected, citing concerns by the State Department that
Mugabe and the other defendants might be entitled to immunity while on a
diplomatic visit. The plaintiffs' attorneys maintained that Mugabe is not immune
from the lawsuit because the case involves alleged actions that took place
outside his official capacity as Zimbabwe's president.

In light of the U.S. government's position, a judge instructed the plaintiffs to
get the court papers to Mugabe on their own. They did so without incident
Thursday
night, as he was entering a church in Harlem to give a speech.

During his speech, Mugabe defended his plan to take land from white farmers and
give it to poor blacks. The Associated Press quoted him as saying, "We will die
clinging to our land."

© 2000 The Washington Post Company

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