The key witness in the treason trial of Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, Thursday made an emotional plea to the judge to be dismissed from the case, saying he was being ”abused” by both state and defence lawyers.
Ari Ben-Menashe, who has been testifying for four weeks against Tsvangirai and two top associates for their alleged plot to assassinate President Robert Mugabe, asked to be dismissed from the proceedings immediately.
”I feel I’m being abused, both by the state and the defence,” said Ben Menashe.
”I am not the accused. I am not a prisoner here,” Ben Menashe told Judge Paddington Garwe. ”I ask you please to allow me to immediately step down.”
The Canadian-based political consultant has been subjected to intense grilling by chief defence lawyer George Bizos over a video he made of a meeting with Tsvangirai at which the latter allegedly requested help to eliminate Mugabe.
”The state believes the more this cross-examination goes on, the more Mr Bizos helps them get a conviction,” Ben Menashe claimed. He said the defence in turn were only interested in having the case dismissed on technical grounds.
The defence has given Ben Menashe short shrift during the month-long proceedings, accusing him of being an internationally-renowned fraudster who defrauded Tsvangirai’s party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and deliberately set out to trap its leader.
The opposition claims that Ben Menashe and his Montreal firm of consultants, Dickens and Madson, were on the payroll of Mugabe’s government who wanted the popular opposition leader sidelined ahead of last year’s presidential poll, which Tsvangirai subsequently lost.
Bizos dismissed Ben Menashe’s request as ”an exhibition” by ”a disreputable person” who had defrauded and entrapped their clients ”causing much damage to them and the country.”
The defense still wants to hear evidence on Ben Menashe’s reputation. The state’s lawyer, Bharat Patel, said he needed a few days to re-examine Ben Menashe but supported the consultant’s request, saying the time he had spent on the witness stand was ”probably a record.”
Ben Menashe said he was prepared to come back for a ”limited time” if required. Garwe said he would deal with the request on Friday morning.
Cross-examination of Ben Menashe continued Thursday with the defence saying that Ben Menashe had lured Tsvangirai on the pretext that Dickens and Madson would raise money for his party.
Ben Menashe admitted to luring Tsvangirai under false pretences, but said he had done so in order to collect evidence on the MDC leader, who he claimed attended the meeting in Montreal to discuss transitional arrangements for the country following the assassination of Mugabe.
Ben Menashe said Tsvangirai had requested that the assassination take place within 10 days of the Montreal meeting, which was held on December 4, 2001. Defence lawyer Bizos said his client would oppose that allegation.
The political consultant, who claims to be a former Israeli intelligence agent, was reprimanded by the judge for referring to Tsvangirai, his secretary general Welshman Ncube and shadow agriculture minister, Renson Gasela, as ”criminals”.
He warned him to refer to the trio, who face the death penalty if convicted, as ”the accused”. – Sapa-AFP