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GAZETTE
APRIL 1983
Correspondence
The Editor,
Incorporated Law Society Gazette,
Blackhall Place,
Dublin 7.
12th April 1983
Dear Sir,
On behalf of Amnesty International, I would like to
draw your readers' attention to the unjust detention of a
Zambian lawyer. Nkaka Chisanga Puta was served with a
one year detention order two weeks after he was detained
by police. Such orders can be continually renewed and
detainees have no effective means of challenging them.
The authorities stated Mr. Puta was held because of
efforts to release prisoners charged with plotting the
overthrow of the government. There has been no formal
charge. I believe he is being held because he defended his
uncle, a former government minister, subsequently
charged with treason. In No v emb er 1980 he successfully
applied for his uncle's release on a writ of habeas corpus,
(he was immediately re-detained under a new order).
This and other attempts to secure his client's release
have embarrassed the Zambian authorities. Th o u gh a
habeas corpus action on Mr. Puta's behalf failed in the
High Court in De c ember 1981, the judge did find that he
had been subjected to inhuman treatment and ordered that
he be compensated.
The present order expires in July this year; it is likely,
however, that it will be renewed unless pressure can be
brought on the Zambian government, and President
Kaunda in particular, to release him. He is being held in
Mpina Prison, Kabwe.
I urge members of your Society to appeal to President
Kaunda on behalf of Nkaka Chisanga Puta. Please send
courteous letters to:
His Excellency President Kenneth Kaunda,
State House,
Lusaka,
Zambia.
Yours sincerely, Jean Cross,
AMN E S TY I N T E R N A T I O N AL
Liberty Hall, Dublin 1
The Editor,
Incorporated Law Society of Ireland Gazette,
Blackhall Place,
Dublin 7.
25.5.83.
Dear Sir,
My attention has been drawn to the cover article in your
April issue where you discuss the sequel to Fairview Park
and certain aspects of the case. As Declan Flynn's mother
you might permit me to comment.
You say the furore following the sentence confused and
obscured important issues. The most important issue was
never obscured. Judge Gannon set at liberty five people
who on their own admission made a habit (and presumably
a tidy profit) of beating people up and who beat my son to
death.
My own recollection of the case is that the Judge having
spent three quarters of an hour indicating the gravity of the
offence, did say why he proposed to suspend the sentences.
The grounds cited by him were: firstly, that the gang
element in the assault outdid individual participation and
accordingly diffused individual culpability. He should
explain his logic to my son in Glasnevin who was the focus
of combined attention of the said individuals when he
fought for his life. My understanding was that people who
acted in consent or conspired to commit a crime were
treated to a heavier hand of the law than the solitary
criminal. The reverse was applied in this case. The second
reason cited for a non-custodial sentence was the character
evidence. Wh en evidence of the defendants' angelic
characters was being given by a procession of tame
clergymen et al, it was remarked by the Judge, if memory
serves me correctly, that during the period the character
witnesses were forming such good impressions of them,
some of the defendants were regularly assaulting and
robbing people. What value should one therefore attach to
such character assessments? Yet the Judge found great
merit in them as mitigating factors.
You refer in your article to the deplorable standard of
the Dáil debate which I translate to mean that when legal
personalities are subject to public criticism it's "close
ranks time". This seems to be borne out as the tenor of the
article is by and large a defence of the Judge's inexplicable
sentence.
If T . D . 's on both sides of the house were vociferous
perhaps it was because of the obvious inequity in the
sentence handed down and their impotence in the matter.
Your final paragraph implies that justice was done while
suggesting it was not seen to be done. Justice was not done
and was seen to be not done — hence the furore.
Mary Flynn,
183 Swords Road,
Whitehall,
Dublin 9.
Professional Information
(continued from p. 110.)
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110