Bennett's high-profile terrorism trial resumes in Zim

The trial of Zimbabwe deputy agriculture minister-designate Roy Bennett, who is facing charges of illegal possession of weapons for purposes of terrorism, banditry and insurgency, resumed on Wednesday with the prosecution’s key witness due to testify.

Bennett, a senior official of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has pleaded not guilty in the high court in Harare. The MDC says the case against Bennett is politically motivated and aimed at keeping him out of the unity government it formed with President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party last February.

The charge of terrorism carries a death penalty in Zimbabwe, while the other charges of inciting terrorism, banditry and insurgency against Bennett carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Justice Chinembiri Bhunu adjourned the trial in November after Mutare-based arms dealer Peter Hitschmann, the prosecution’s star witness, failed to show up in court.

The prosecution alleges Hitschmann was paid by Bennett to buy weapons to assassinate government officials.

Police say Hitschmann implicated Bennett in the procurement of the arms, but Bennett’s lawyers argue that the arms dealer had been tortured into making that submission.

Hitschmann has submitted an affidavit saying he does not want to testify against Bennett. His lawyer, Mordecai Mahlangu, was arrested last year in connection with the matter and a judge is expected to rule on the matter this week.

Hitschmann was acquitted of terrorism charges in 2006 but served jail time for possessing dangerous weapons—including six sub-machine guns and two machine guns—which have been produced in Bennett’s trial as part of the state’s exhibits.

The MDC claims the Attorney General’s office is frustrating efforts to swear in Bennett, along with other senior MDC officials chosen for the unity government. Bennett was arrested on the day he was due to be sworn in last February.—Sapa-dpa