DEFENSE FILES FOR DISCHARGE - TSVANGIRAI TREASON

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 001322

SIPDIS

NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR J. FRAZER
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY
PARIS FOR C. NEARY
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER
BANGKOK FOR WIN DAYTON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2013
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR ZI
SUBJECT: DEFENSE FILES FOR DISCHARGE - TSVANGIRAI TREASON
TRIAL WEEK FOURTEEN

REF: A. HARARE 1256

B. HARARE 1149

C. HARARE 946

D. HARARE 568

E. HARARE 484

F. HARARE 360

G. HARARE 313

H. HARARE 250

Classified By: Political Officer Audu Besmer for reasons 1.5 b/d

Summary:
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1. (C) The State closed its case and the Defense filed for
discharge in the fourteenth week of Morgan Tsvangirai's
(first) treason trial. State witness Perence Shiri, Zimbabwe
Air Force Commander, told the court that the MDC had
requested his assistance in the event of the MDC winning the
March 2002 presidential poll--but had not asked him to help
overthrow Mugabe. Three State witnesses, who served as
transcribers, testified that the audio portion of the
videotape was inaudible and that the tape supplied to at
least one of them was not the original. On legal grounds the
defense's application for discharge appears solid; however,
the judge could easily decide to continue this case, under
pressure from the GOZ, as part of the GOZ's campaign to
discredit opposition President Morgan Tsvangirai. End
Summary.

Defense Files for Discharge
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2. (C) The State closed its case and the Defense filed for
discharge in the fourteenth week of Morgan Tsvangirai's
(first) treason trial. According to defense attorney
Innocent Chagonda, the defense argued in court on June 26
that the State had not argued a case worthy to answer to.
Judge Paddington Garwe adjourned the trial until July 7 to
enable both sides to prepare their arguments pertaining to
this motion.

Air Force Commander Denies Coup Plot
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3. (U) On June 23 State witness Perence Shiri, Zimbabwe Air
Force Commander, told the court that the MDC had requested
his assistance in the event of the MDC winning the March 2002
presidential poll, and had offered him financial payment for
such assistance. This testimony contradicted earlier
statements by witness Ari Ben Menashe that the MDC had asked
Shiri to help engineer a coup against President Mugabe.

Transcribers: Tape Inaudible
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4. (U) On June 24 and 25 the court heard testimony by three
State witnesses who transcribed the video and audio tapes:
government transcriber, Constantine Musango; state-run
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Company (ZBC) television and
broadcasting manager, Edward Chinhoyi; and Tineyi Nyawasha,
Director of a Harare electronics equipment hiring company.
Of the videotape, Musango said he told police that parts of
the tape were inaudible, that it was not clear who was saying
what because of the accents and background noise. He said
police told him to transcribe what he could hear. Musango
also said the tape supplied to him was a normal VHS tape,
i.e. not the original mini-cassette.


5. (C) Nyawasha also said that parts of the videotape were
inaudible, and Chinhoyi testified that there was no evidence
that the videotape had been tampered with. The defense
argued that there are a myriad of editing techniques that
could have been employed to make some parts inaudible, some
parts more audible, and to cut and paste sections of speech
to attribute them to alternate speakers.

Comment:
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6. (C) Yet again this week, the testimonies of State
witnesses tended to support the defense's case more than the
prosecution's--that there was no plot to assassinate Mugabe
and engineer a coup, and the videotape was inaudible and not
original. On legal grounds the defense's application for
discharge appears solid; however, the judge could easily
decide to continue this case, under pressure from the GOZ, as
part of the GOZ's campaign to discredit opposition President
Morgan Tsvangirai. End Comment.
SULLIVAN