TREASON TRIAL CONTINUES

UNCLAS HARARE 000124 SIPDIS SENSITIVE NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR J. FRAZER LONDON FOR C. GURNEY PARIS FOR C. NEARY NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI ZI MDC SUBJECT: TREASON TRIAL CONTINUES ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai's treason trial resumed in the High Court on January 19. The defense concluded its direct examination of Tsvangirai on January 22 and the case now moves to Tsvangirai's cross- examination by the prosecution. The trial will likely conclude within weeks, although a court judgment may take considerably longer with possible appeals to follow. A sideshow to the trial revolves around the Government- controlled Herald's fabricated report that Tsvangirai's testimony had implicated the U.S. Government in a coup plot. END SUMMARY ¶2. (SBU) On September 22, 2003, the state applied to amend its charges to correct the discrepancies between the indictment and the evidence introduced at trial. The defense opposed the state application, arguing that Tsvangirai would suffer prejudice if the indictment were changed. In his judgment January 19, Justice Garwe allowed the state to alter its indictment in part. Garwe did not, however, allow it to change all the elements of its indictment as requested. Defense attorney Innocent Chagonda told us that the changes that Garwe allowed were immaterial and would not serve to prejudice Tsvangirai. ¶3. (U) On January 19, the defense team began by putting Morgan Tsvangirai on the stand. After testifying about his history as a politician Tsvangirai told the court that he did not plot to assassinate President Robert Mugabe. He testified that he was patriotic to his country and regarded Mugabe as the hero of the liberation struggle. Since the case resumed, public attendance has been relatively sparse, with the courtroom generally being less than half full. ¶4. (U) Proceedings January 22 began with a complaint lodged by the defense over a front page story, "Tsvangirai implicates US government in coup plot", in the January 22 edition of the Government-controlled Herald newspaper. (Note: Despite the breathtaking headline, the convoluted story recounted no testimony or evidence to that effect but only innuendo about Tsvangirai being interested in securing American financial support. End Note.) Justice Garwe agreed to consider the defense's request that the Herald be instructed to retract the story. After a full 45 minutes of discussion on the Herald report, the defense resumed its examination of the defendant, which it concluded by mid-day. ¶5. (SBU) The case now moves to cross-examination of the defendant, after which the defense plans to put MDC Secretary-General Welshman Ncube on the stand. MDC SIPDIS Secretary for Legal Affairs David Coltart told us that the SIPDIS defense case would likely wrap up within weeks, but that it was difficult to predict when the court would render judgment. Coltart said he expected Garwe ultimately to acquit Tsvangirai but would serve the government's purposes nonetheless by allowing the case to drag out as long as possible and to highlight matters that would adversely affect the MDC. He predicted that the case could drag out, through appeals, through the year. ¶6. (SBU) COMMENT: It is too early to tell where the case is going but the defense team appears to be confident that it will prevail. For its part, the GOZ may care less about winning and more about stringing the case out as long as possible -- bleeding the MDC through legal fees and preoccupying its leadership in the process. In that respect, it already is winning. On January 21, Coltart appealed to a host of EU diplomats for financial assistance to help pay the party's legal fees for the treason trial and the party's petition to overturn the results of the 2002 election. (Note: Resumption date for the election petition has not been set but may resume by next month.) According to Coltart, the party already is behind in payment of USD 200,000 legal fees in the treason trial and USD 60,000 in the election contest, with the lawyers unpaid for more than four months.