ZIMBABWE: The trial of the Zimbabwe opposition leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, began yesterday when he appeared in court to face charges of plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe and seize power.
The trial was delayed after baton-wielding police tried to bar reporters, diplomats, and supporters of Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) from the High Court in Harare, sparking scuffles with the crowd gathered outside.
At least one local reporter was arrested in the fracas, which ended when defence lawyers won an order from presiding Justice Paddington Garwe to admit the media and other observers.
Mr Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's most influential opposition politician, and two other senior MDC officials have been charged with plotting to assassinate Mr Mugabe during a meeting with Canadian public relations consultants last year. If convicted of treason, they could face the death penalty.Yesterday, all three men entered not guilty pleas.
Political analysts say Zimbabwe's decision to push ahead with Mr Tsvangirai's trial carries risks for the government, handing its most outspoken critic a platform to criticise its human rights record just as the country prepares to host several matches of the cricket World Cup.
Court officials say they expect the trial to last about three weeks.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Tsvangirai repeated that he was "not guilty at all" of the plot charges, which he has described as an effort to discredit the MDC. "I certainly believe that the whole nation will become disgusted by this kangaroo court," he said.
The charges hinge on a secretly videotaped meeting between Mr Tsvangirai, MDC secretary-general Mr Welshman Ncube and secretary for agriculture Renson Gasela and executives from a Canadian public relations company in which the idea of murdering Mr Mugabe was allegedly brought up.
The defendants say the videotape had been edited to discredit Mr Tsvangirai and the MDC before presidential elections last March. Mr Mugabe eventually won in the polls. In Monday's opening statement, prosecutors said the tape was missing its first 10 minutes because of a faulty battery. Defence lawyer Mr George Bizos, the South African human rights attorney who defended Nelson Mandela in his 1963-64 treason trial in South Africa, said the government's evidence had been "heavily doctored" to implicate the three defendants.