Kunonga's trial hits a snag as judge storms out

Kunonga's trial hits a snag as judge storms out

• 'Mugabe bishop' goes on trial for misconduct

• Pauline Makoni: Kunonga more equal than others

• Charge sheet of Bishop Kunonga's crimes

By Staff Reporter

THE trial of controversial Zimbabwean Anglican bishop Nolbert Kunonga hit a snag on Thursday when the presiding judge stepped down in protest.

The dramatic events followed defence lawyers' request further particulars on the charges he faces.

Bishop Nolbert Kunonga of Harare, a staunch supporter of President Robert Mugabe, is accused of incitement to murder, threatening other bishops and church officials and misappropriating funds, among other offences.

He was being tried in a special ecclesiastical court in Harare.

Malawian Supreme Court judge and two Anglican bishop assessors from Zambia who were presiding over the case resigned over the bickering between the prosecutors and defence team. Kunonga faced excommunication from the church if convicted.

Defence lawyer James Mutizwa told the court earlier on Thursday morning that he was "embarrassed" to enter a plea on behalf of his client until he was furnished with "further particulars" relating to the charges.

He said it would be unprocedural for the trial to begin without first having sight of that information.

But prosecutor Jeremy Lewis had urged Judge James Kalaile to continue with the trial.

"As you are empowered so to do, the ultimate decision on the rules of practice and procedure are yours and yours alone," Lewis told the judge.

Kalaile then adjourned the court, which has been set up in the trophy room at the prestigious Royal Harare Golf Club, until later in the afternoon. He said he wanted to familiarise himself with Zimbabwe's court procedures before making a ruling.

But when he returned in the afternoon, the judge was less than pleased and stormed: "I cannot proceed with this case. What I have seen and am experiencing here, I have not experienced in any other court, even my home country of Malawi. I have to withdraw as judge. I have no wish to continue with this case."

During the brief proceedings, Kunonga, dressed in a maroon cassock with a silver crucifix around his neck, sat beside his lawyer and threw defiant glances around the courtroom.

State media on Thursday claimed the trial was "politically motivated".

Kunonga was slapped with an European Union travel ban shortly after his controversial appointment as Harare's top Anglican cleric in 2001.

The ban also includes Mugabe and dozens of his associates.

The Anglican bishop, unlike most church leaders, has been a vocal proponent of the sometimes-violent seizure of white-owned farms since 2000.

He is reported to have received at least one white-owned farm since the launch of the programme.

"Bishop Kunonga's pan-African stance has not won him many friends in the white community that now wants him to be excommunicated from the Church of England," said a report in Thursday's state-controlled Herald newspaper. -- Sapa-DPA
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