Zimbabwe opposition leader awaits treason decision

Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said his treason trial is political repression by President Robert Mugabe and that the verdict, expected tomorrow, will be determined not by the judge but by political forces.

Tsvangirai could be sentenced to death if he is convicted of treason at the end his two-year-old trial in Harare.

“We wait for Friday, whatever the eventuality, an acquittal or a conviction, as far as I am concerned it’s still the same thing because this is political persecution,” he said today.

“It is not because of the facts of the case, it is about political decision outside the bench. It is not as if the case was before a judge, it is outside political forces that will determine the outcome,” he added.

Tsvangirai is accused in the trial of plotting to assassinate Mugabe. The charges were based on the testimony and taped evidence presented by a Ari Ben Menashe, a Canadian political consultant in the employ of Mugabe’s government.

In Zimbabwe, the trial is widely seen as an attempt by the government to use the cover of law to crush a political opponent.

Tsvangirai said that his party’s supporters believed in his innocence and were not prepared to accept a guilty verdict.

“They have programme of action to implement if the verdict is guilty,” he said, without elaborating.

Tsvangirai said that Mugabe through misgovernance and repression had brought the country to the brink of economic ruin with massive unemployment and food shortages.

“This country will reach a state of implosion if he does not deal with this political crisis,” said Tsvangirai.