Treason Trial of Zimbabwean Postponed

AP via The Las Vegas Sun ^ | September 15, 2003 | AP

[Pan_Yans Wife]

The treason trial of a key opposition leader in Zimbabwe has been postponed for six weeks, his lawyer said Monday.

Morgan Tsvangirai is accused of plotting the assassination of longtime ruler President Robert Mugabe. He denies the charges.

The trial, the longest in Zimbabwe's legal history, began in February. In recess for the last month, it had been scheduled to resume Monday with Tsvangirai giving evidence in High Court.

But Innocent Chagonda, his lawyer, said the hearing was postponed until Oct. 27. Court officials, noting the trial had delayed other court business, said presiding Judge Paddington Garwe would not be able to hear the case before then.

Canadian-based consultant Ari Ben Menashe alleges Tsvangirai hired him to help kill Mugabe ahead of presidential elections in March last year.

Tsvangirai was charged with treason two weeks before he ran for president against Mugabe last year. He narrowly lost the election, which independent observers said was swayed by political violence and vote-rigging.

Treason carries a possible death sentence in Zimbabwe.

Tsvangirai was jointly charged with Welshman Ncube, his party's third-ranking official, and Renson Gasela, a senior party member.

Ncube and Gasela were acquitted in July for lack of evidence.

The treason charges against Tsvangirai are based on a grainy 4 1/2 hour video secretly recorded at the consultant's Montreal offices in which he allegedly spoke of Mugabe's "elimination."

Defense lawyers have argued Ben Menashe was hired by Mugabe's secret service to frame the opposition leaders, discredit their party and hinder their political activities by forcing them to face a lengthy trial.

Support for Zimbabwe's opposition has grown as the increasingly unpopular Mugabe struggles to hold on to power in a country wracked with political and economic chaos.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

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