Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai appeared in a magistrate’s court on Tuesday for a routine remand hearing on a treason charge over protest marches he led nearly two years ago.
His lawyer complained that the state has taken too long to bring the Movement for Democratic Change leader to trial and said he will apply for his removal from remand when he returns to court on August 2.
”We lodged our complaint that the state is delaying this matter. So, we gave notice that at the next appearance we will be making an application for refusal of remand,” said lawyer Chris Mhike.
If the court grants the request, it will mean Tsvangirai will not have to appear regularly in court as he has been doing since his June 2003 arrest and subsequent release on bail.
Tsvangirai’s ordeal followed anti-government street protests he organised in June 2003, where he allegedly called on Zimbabweans to oust President Robert Mugabe.
The state accused Tsvangirai of inciting his supporters to overthrow the government and engaging in acts of public violence during the protests dubbed the ”final push”.
But Tsvangirai denied that the protests were aimed at deposing the 81-year-old Mugabe, who has ruled the country since independence in 1980, saying they were an expression of public anger at the government’s biting economic and social policies.
In 2003, the Southern African country experienced acute shortages of food and fuel and a cash crunch.
In October last year, a Harare high court acquitted Tsvangirai of treason in a separate case filed in 2002, in which the opposition leader was accused of plotting to assassinate Mugabe.
Treason carries a death sentence in Zimbabwe. — Sapa-AFP