Posted on 07/02/2002 2:18:38 AM PDT by Clive
New York - A federal magistrate recommended a $73 million penalty against Zimbabwe's ruling party Monday for allegedly torturing and killing political opponents.
U.S. Magistrate James Francis issued the 32-page finding in a case brought nearly two years ago by members of an opposition party who say they were attacked or saw their loved ones killed in campaigns by President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, or Zanu PF.
A U.S. law allows foreigners to sue over international crimes that, because of current conditions, cannot be taken to court in their own countries. Any court-ordered judgment would be difficult to enforce but could clear the way for the seizure of any Zanu PF assets in the United States.
Mugabe and his lawyers failed to appear in court to fight the allegations, and he and several top lieutenants were eventually dismissed as individual defendants in the case.
His party was eventually found in default, leaving a judge to decide damages.
After reviewing the horrific stories of eight purported victims, Francis decided Zanu PF should pay about $20 million in compensatory damages and $53 million in punitive damages.
The report will be sent to U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero, who can accept the findings or alter them.
Messages requesting comment from Zimbabwe's U.N. Mission and its embassy in Washington were not immediately returned.
Militants from Mugabe's party have illegally occupied hundreds of white- owned farms in what he has called a justified protest against unfair land ownership by the descendants of British settlers.
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