Tsvangirai treason judgement next month

Tsvangirai treason judgement next month

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By Agencies

A ZIMBABWE court is to hand down a verdict on October 15 in the trial of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who is accused of plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe, his party said.

"Morgan Tsvangirai has now been informed that the verdict on his treason trial will be delivered on 15 October, 2004 at the High Court in Harare," his spokesman William Bango said in a statement late Monday.

Tsvangirai, who could face the death sentence if convicted, is accused of conspiring to murder Mugabe and arrange a military coup ahead of the March 2002 presidential election.

His year-long trial came to a close in February, and he was initially informed that judgement would be handed down on 29 July, but this was later postponed indefinitely for no given reason.

The state based its case on evidence from a grainy videotape of a meeting between Tsvangirai and Canadian political consultant Ari Ben Menashe, who became the state's key witness.

Tsvangirai, a former union leader who formed the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in 1999 to challenge Mugabe, said the government trumped up the treason charges against him in a bid to discredit him ahead of the 2002 presidential election.

He lost the election, which international observers said was rigged and marred by political violence.

Tsvangirai said he had hired Ben Menashe's firm to help with international lobbying and fundraising for his party, but later discovered the government had also hired it.

Zimbabwe is due to hold general elections in May next year but the MDC has said it will boycott the vote unless Mugabe abides by a new regional charter spelling out guidelines for a free and fair vote.

The charter adopted by leaders of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) at a summit in Mauritius last month provides for equal access to the media, freedom from police harassment and opening up voting to foreign monitors among other criteria - AFP
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