South African lawyer George Bizos, defending Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in a treason trial, has claimed police tried to cover up for a key state witness.
Bizos alleged that police had suppressed a transcript of an audiotape made by Ari Ben-Menashe, the chief state witness. The tape of a meeting between Tsvangirai and Ben-Menashe had been presented as a key piece of evidence in the trial.
Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has been charged with plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe ahead of last year’s presidential elections, which Mugabe won.
MDC secretary general Welshman Ncube and shadow agriculture minister, Renson Gasela have also been charged.
The three opposition officials face the death penalty if convicted of treason.
Their trial resumed on Monday after being adjourned more than a month ago. Five state witnesses have already testified in the trial, including Ben-Menashe.
The state’s evidence hinges on transcripts of tapes made at meetings between Ben-Menashe and Tsvangirai in London and Montreal.
The tapes have proved to be almost inaudible.
In his cross-examination of police assistant commissioner Moses Magandi, Bizos accused the investigator and his colleagues of suppressing a document ”that would have proved that Ben-Menashe was lying”.
”You allowed him to mislead the people of Zimbabwe… and the world at large,” he said.
The document he was referring to was a transcript of an audiotape made at the London meeting. Ben-Menashe claimed that the tape showed Tsvangirai asking for help to eliminate Mugabe, but Bizos said the transcript of the tape clearly showed this was not the case.
Earlier, Magandi said the police had not used the transcript of the London meeting because they could not make ”head or tail of it”. He said that the investigating team felt that Ben-Menashe would clarify the issues contained on the tape at the trial.
The treason trial resumed against a background of widening political and economic tensions in the southern African country.
Tensions between the MDC and Mugabe’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) party have increased in the last two months.
The MDC has refused to recognise Mugabe’s election victory last year, and in March called for a widely-followed two-day strike to protest alleged misgovernance.
Tsvangirai and the MDC have warned there will be further strikes. The MDC has taken out full-page advertisements in the private press stating: ”The will of the people shall prevail.” – Sapa-AFP