A white former police reservist on Thursday pleaded not guilty to charges of hoarding arms as part of an alleged plot to topple veteran President Robert Mugabe as he went on trial in Zimbabwe.
Lawyers for Peter Hitschmann, arrested in March with seven others after police said an arms cache had been found in his home, told the court in Mutare, 270km east of Harare, that an initial confession had been forced out of the defendant while he was tortured by security agents.
Hitschmann, who faces life imprisonment if convicted, is charged with breaching an Act outlawing ”possessing weaponry for insurgency, banditry, sabotage or terrorism”.
State prosecutor Levison Chikafu said Hitschmann was working for a shadowy organisation called the Zimbabwe Freedom Movement based in Britain, the country’s former colonial power, which he claimed was seeking to oust Mugabe.
He claimed the group had links with the opposition Movement for Democratic Chnage (MDC), often castigated by Mugabe as stooges of his arch-enemy, British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
In March, state television aired reports claiming that Hitschmann told his interrogators that opposition lawmaker Giles Mutseyekwa and former opposition MP Roy Bennett were the organisation’s local coordinators.
Bennett was not charged as he fled the country and has since applied for political asylum in South Africa, but it has been turned down.
The state said the arsenal found comprised an AK-47 assault rifle, seven Uzi submachine guns, four FN rifles, 11 shotguns, six CZ pistols, four revolvers, 15 tear-gas canisters and several thousand rounds of ammunition.
Police nabbed Hitschmann in March, leading to the arrest of opposition MP Mutseyeka and six others who were charged but later cleared by the High Court.
Defence attorney Eric Matinenga told the court Hitschmann had been tortured at an army camp after his arrest, and forced to admit to plotting to assassinate Mugabe by spilling oil on the road in front of his motorcade.
During the interrogation the defendant was ”viciously kicked twice in his testicles”, said Matinenga.
”He felt searing pain and realised that he was blacking out. While going in and out of consciousness he felt that somebody had pulled his trousers and underpants.
”He smelt burning flesh. Someone was burning him with a cigarette or cigarettes on his buttocks. Then he passed out.”
Judge Alphus Chitakunye later adjourned the trial to Monday after Hitschmann’s lawyers protested over some arms brought to court as exhibits, saying they were not part of the cache alleged to have been found at their client’s home.
”It’s unfortunate we only got these arms of war today [Thursday] in this court,” Matinenga told the court.
”I would have wanted to proceed with the trial today but we can only do so on Monday. We need to get as many experts as possible to inspect the arms.” — Sapa-AFP