A private member’s bill to abolish the death penalty in Zimbabwe yesterday received Cabinet support, essentially confirming that Parliament will approve it, with life imprisonment now the maximum penalty for murder.
Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Dr. Genevan Mossoire, said after yesterday’s Cabinet meeting that despite the Cabinet’s approval of the draft law to abolish the death penalty, the Cabinet still wants the new law to impose lengthy sentences to deter murders.
It was agreed that the circumstances that required the death penalty in the past were if the murder was committed against a prison or police officer, or against a minor or a pregnant woman, or was committed in the context of other serious crimes or where there was premature murder. Meditation, then an appropriate severe punishment was needed.
“Given the need to retain an element of deterrence in sentencing murderers, the new law is expected to impose lengthy sentences without violating the right to life,” Dr. Moswer said.
A private members’ bill was submitted to the National Assembly last year with the aim of abolishing the death penalty by amending the Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure and Evidence.
This was done after nationwide popular consultations in 30 regions, three regions in each of the country’s ten provinces, after which a report was issued.
“Through these consultations, critical comments and opinions for and against the death penalty were expressed,” Dr. Moswer said.
The approval of the draft law comes after a moratorium on the implementation of death sentences in the country for more than 18 years, a decision led by the executive branch, and the timely commutation of the sentences of those sentenced to death to life imprisonment.
The Constitution protects the right to life, but states that the law may permit a court, in limited circumstances, to impose the death penalty on men convicted of aggravated murder.
The new draft law, upon its issuance, prevents courts from imposing the death penalty, and when the Supreme Court considers an appeal against the death penalty filed by the Supreme Court, it is obligated to replace it with another ruling.
The second clause of the bill states: “Notwithstanding any other law, no court shall impose the sentence of death upon any person for any offence, whenever committed, but shall instead impose any other appropriate sentence of competent jurisdiction.” “Circumstances of the case: The Supreme Court does not confirm the sentence of death imposed on any appellant, where such sentence has been imposed, but instead substitutes any other competent sentence which is appropriate in the circumstances of the case; and the sentence of death shall not be executed whenever it is imposed.”
The third clause of the Code of Criminal Procedure and Evidence is amended by deleting references to the death penalty and repealing the articles that specify how the penalty should be imposed and implemented.
Clause 4 would remove the reference to the death penalty from Article 4 of the Genocide Law, which allows it to be imposed for the crime of genocide.
These death row prisoners will be brought before the Supreme Court for re-sentence, and the Court will have the power to impose any appropriate punishment on them, taking into account all the circumstances including the nature of the crimes committed by them and the duration of the sentence. Their time in prison awaiting execution, their health and their likelihood of committing further crimes.
However, these prisoners can appeal to the Supreme Court against the new sentences and are allowed to apply to the President for clemency under Article 112 of the Constitution.
Zimbabwe, as an independent country, had been wary of the death penalty from the beginning, and had abandoned many colonial laws and replaced them with death sentences, even the option of the death penalty for some ordinary crimes, leaving the death penalty only in the case of murder without extenuating circumstances. .
Hanging required a positive decision by a majority of the Cabinet under the 1980 Constitution, and it became clear during the 1990s that there was a growing dislike for carrying out this punishment. Announce