Tsvangirai treason trial starts with scuffles and arrests

The first day of the treason trial of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai was marked by scuffles outside the court and an urgent court application by his legal team to have the public and the press admitted.

MDC legal advisor David Coltart told IRIN on Monday he [Coltart] had initially been one of many people barred entry from proceedings at the Harare High Court. But South African human rights lawyer George Bizos, representing Tsvangirai along with Zimbabweans Chris Anderson and Eric Matimenga, insisted that he be allowed into the court. Judge Paddington Garwe ruled that the trial was open to all.

Tsvangirai, MDC member of parliament Renson Gasela and MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube have been accused of plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe shortly before the March 2002 presidential election. This followed the screening on Australian television of a secretly recorded interview where Tsvangirai allegedly discussed the "elimination" of Mugabe with members of a Canadian consultancy firm led by Ari Ben-Menashe, who reportedly also has links with the ruling ZANU-PF.

Tsvangirai, Gasela and Ncube have denied the charges and their legal team claim the tape had been heavily edited.

Coltart said the treason trial only began after the MDC lawyers successfully sought an urgent court order allowing members of the public and press into the court room.

"Prior to that the police were denying entry to MDC parliamentarians and local and international media," he said.

French news agency AFP reported that freelance journalist Ish Mafundikwa and Pedzisai Ruhanya, the deputy news
editor of the independent Daily News, were arrested outside the court. Mafundikwa's sister said this was because they questioned why police were being selective in who they allowed into the court building. AFP also reported that a number of diplomats were pushed, threatened and turned away.

If convicted the three MDC leaders could face the death penalty.

Zimbabwe's last treason trial was in 1997 when Ndabaningi Sithole, once a close ally of Mugabe, was sentenced to two years in jail for the attempted assassination of Mugabe - a charge he denied.