Posted on 06/19/2008 12:05:44 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
HARARE (AFP) - The Zimbabwe opposition's number two was charged with subverting government on Thursday and faces a potential death penalty, as more violence was reported before next week's presidential run-off.
Tendai Biti, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) secretary general, faces four charges including subverting the government, election rigging and "projecting the president as an evil man."
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who faces President Robert Mugabe in the June 27 run-off election, dismissed the charges as "frivolous."
The charges stem from documents prosecutors say Biti authored discussing plans to rig the March 29 first-round parliamentary and presidential vote, and planned changes to the military if the opposition came to power.
Citing the documents, prosecutor Florence Ziyambi said "the public violence, the rigging of elections was as a result" of them.
"They are alleging that the president is a criminal since they want to take him to The Hague," she said, referring to the documents and the International Criminal Court.
"The onus is on the accused to prove that he has no connection with the public violence that is happening in the country," said Ziyambi.
Biti's lawyer Hapious Zhou contended in court that the documents on which the prosecutors were basing the charges were forged, calling them "a photocopy of a photocopy."
"There is not even an attempt to simulate the accused's signature," he said.
Referring to the bribery allegations against Biti that prosecutors say led to vote fraud, he said: "How can offering bribes constitute treason?"
Biti is to appear in court again Friday, when a magistrate is to decide whether the charges should be thrown out.
Rights group Amnesty International reported further violence Thursday, saying 12 bodies had been found in various parts of Zimbabwe.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
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