A white Zimbabwean security expert who has been in custody for two months on conspiracy charges has finally had a trial date set for the end of June, reports said on Wednesday.
President Robert Mugabe’s government maintains that Michael Hitschmann, from the eastern border city of Mutare, was at the heart of a terrorist plot that could have seen the Zimbabwean leader assassinated.
Hitschmann and eight others — four members of the main opposition party and four police officers — were arrested early in March when police found a stash of arms at Hitschmann’s house.
The eight were released after several days in custody but Hitschmann, who is a registered arms dealer, has been in police cells ever since.
”The investigations have since been completed and a trial date has been set, which is the 26th of June,” state prosecutor Florence Ziyambi was quoted as saying.
Lawyers for Hitschmann have fought without success to get their client released on bail. State lawyers say there is a high possibility he would flee, according to the state-controlled The Herald newspaper.
The authorities said they believed prominent former opposition legislator Roy Bennett was also involved in the alleged plot.
Bennett has since fled to South Africa, where he has filed an application for political asylum.
One of the charges levelled against Hitschmann and those arrested with him was that they planned to spill oil on a highway leading into Mutare ahead of a visit by the president. They wanted Mugabe’s fleet of cars to slip and have an accident, it is alleged. — Sapa-dpa