Zimbabwe court clears Tsvangirai of treason

ZIMBABWEAN opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was cleared of treason yesterday, a surprise end to a year-long trial that he said was orchestrated by the government of President Robert Mugabe.

Hundreds of Mr Tsvangirai’s supporters danced outside the Harare court when the verdict was announced. Inside, Mr Tsvangirai’s wife, Susan, hugged and kissed him and veteran defence lawyer George Bizos stood with tears of joy streaming down his face.

“The judge arrived at his conclusion on facts that spoke for themselves,” Mr Tsvangirai said. “To have arrived at any other conclusion would have been absurd.”

He added that the ruling “was not expected because of the political environment in which we operate”.

Riot police blanketed the capital after the ruling and fired tear gas to disperse about 200 supporters of Mr Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, celebrating outside party headquarters.

Mr Tsvangirai was charged with treason two weeks before he contested presidential polls that Mr Mugabe narrowly won in March 2002. The government accused him of plotting to kill the president, charges that Mr Tsvangirai and his supporters called an attempt to sideline a main government opponent.

Thes verdict was a boost for the opposition, which has struggled as Mr Mugabe tightened his grip on power, packing the courts with judges loyal to his party, closing the independent press and silencing dissent with a security law that restricts freedom of speech and association.

Mr Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, has also used police and other security forces to harass opponents and journalists and deployed state-controlled militias of youths and purported veterans of Zimbabwe’s war against white rule to violently suppress dissent.

Mr Tsvangirai still faces a separate charge of treason for allegedly advocating Mr Mugabe’s violent overthrow during a speech. No trial date has yet been set.

The more serious treason charge stemmed from state accusations he plotted to kill Mr Mugabe with help from Canada-based consultant Ari Ben Menashe and British finance. Mr Tsvangirai could have faced the death penalty if convicted.

High Court Judge Paddington Garwe, who took 80 minutes to read his judgment, said the state failed to prove Mr Tsvangirai ever asked Ben Menashe to help assassinate Mugabe.