Robert Mugabe Gets Immunity From Prosecution

The former Zimbabwe despot will also get a healthy retirement package
By Josh Rosenblatt,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 23, 2017 11:00 AM CST
Robert Mugabe Gets Immunity From Prosecution
Former President Robert Mugabe at the Zanu-PF headquarters in Harare.   (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi, File)

After ruling Zimbabwe with an iron fist for 37 years, Robert Mugabe will be able to live out the rest of his days free of the threat of prosecution. Military authorities, who put the former president under house arrest a little more than a week ago, have granted him immunity from prosecution and guaranteed his and his family's safety should they choose to stay in Zimbabwe, the Guardian reports. Mugabe will also receive a retirement package that includes a pension, housing, health insurance, and a transportation allowance. Unemployment is as high as 80% in Zimbabwe, and many accuse Mugabe of funding his lavish lifestyle through corruption even as his country descended into poverty.

Mugabe resigned on Tuesday after his own political party began impeachment proceedings against him in parliament. Yesterday, Mugabe's former vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, returned to the country after getting fired by Mugabe two weeks ago, promising a "new and unfolding democracy," CNN reports. But some in the country are skeptical, as Mnangagwa has been accused of orchestrating the massacres of opposition groups in the 1980s. Up to 20,000 people were killed in those attacks. The leader of the main opposition party in Zimbabwe is calling for "free and fair elections" monitored by the UN. (More Robert Mugabe stories.)

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